


Darkness

by Pixel_Runner



Category: Demons - Fandom, Herne the Hunter - Fandom, Legend (1985), Original Work, exophilia - Fandom
Genre: 300@200, Angels, As though fan fic is ever canon, Attempted Rape, Bodily Functions, Body Horror, Brie was originally named Chloe, But I want to cover all my bases, Demons, Dream Sex, Edging, F/M, He isn't that good at it, I Don't Even Know, I like that name better, I may change it back, I should play short stop, It's here too!, Modern Day Setting, Mostly a love story, Normal people in extraordinary circumstances, Not actually wet dreams, People always want me to say AU or Non Canon, Remember the Great Tree?, Seduction, Some sort of AU, Sort of? - Freeform, Trigger Warnings, You don't need to have seen the movie to enjoy, actual disembowelment, not as bad as the tags make it sound, or at least a stalker story, self pleasure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-06-09 17:44:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 45,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15272856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel_Runner/pseuds/Pixel_Runner
Summary: The Devil - well, A devil - maybe and an elder god?  some sort of demon at least, needs a grounds keeper after the local township goes after him for not mowing the lawn.Big scary dude. Cute Girl.  Happily ever after.  If you like my work, you pretty much know what you are getting.  But!  This one has a tractor!  (it's 3am, I'll edit the summary in the morning)





	1. Groundskeeper wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is only the teaser.

Grounds keeper wanted for small manor located one mile outside the picturesque town of Morning Side.  Lot size is 160 acres.  Duties include, watering and mowing the lawn, maintaining the flower gardens and orchard, and clearing the snow in the winter.  Remuneration includes use of a small cottage on the property.

Please contact G.B. Lynn and Associates, Attorneys at Law for more details

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to stay up to date with my work? Check out my [Tumblr](https://pixie-unger.tumblr.com/post/175812570288/on-to-the-next-thing) page for more information.


	2. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr Lynn is interviewing gardeners to take care of a property a mile or so outside of a small town

 

 

 

“Excuse me?” Mr Lynn peered at the woman sitting across from him over the top of his reading glasses.

 

“What kind of tractor does the property have?” the woman repeated.Then she paused for a moment and tried again,“What kind of garden tractor does the property have?There is no way anyone is mowing a quarter section of land with a push mower.”

 

Mr Lynn pulled off his glasses and dropped them on his antique oak desk, “You are the first candidate to ask that question.No one else raised the issue.”

 

Gabriella shrugged and leaned forward, “If I may be blunt, Mr Lynn, that just means that I am the first person actually considering the job not just the cottage.”She paused and considered the grizzled old lawyer with the bad comb over, bushy eyebrows and the unfortunately long and pointed nose.There was something off about him.His arms and legs were unpleasantly thin, but he had a pot belly that made him look about six months pregnant.“How much of the property is lawn to be mowed and how much of it is orchard?Are the flower beds annuals or perennials? What is the plan for the fruit from the orchard?Would I be expected to harvest it, or does the owner get extra help in for that?”

 

Mr Lynn raised a hand to forestall additional questions.“The owner will not be getting additional help in.There hasn’t been any maintenance done in many years.I am only hiring someone now because the town has filed a complaint.”

 

Brie leaned back and considered that. 

 

Neither of them said anything for long enough for Mr Lynn to start feeling slightly uncomfortable under the assessing gaze the young woman was giving him.No one with freckles should be intimidating and Mr Lynn was not an easy person to intimidate.Hecleared his throat and tried to regain control of the conversation.“If I may continue, Ms. Moreno -”

 

Brie put her hand up.The lawyer sputtered to a stop.

 

“How are either of us to judge what is a fair wage or job description if you aren’t aware of the scope of the job?”

 

Mr Lynn was quite offended at that one, “I did do some market research, Ms. Moreno.”

 

Brie shook her head.“That only works if you found comparable jobs in the market to research.If the property is unkempt, that is not the same job as one that is in good shape and merely needs to be maintained.”She considered this for another moment, then shook her head.She stood up and offered Mr Lynn her hand.

 

He stared at it like it was a snake.

 

Brie slowly lowered her hand as she said, “Thank you for meeting with me, Mr.Lynn.I am going to withdraw my application at this time.I wish you good luck in finding someone suitable.When you have actually defined the position, feel free to call me, but until that time, good day.”

 

Then she stooped and collected her bag and her coat and marched firmly out of the room, her kitten heels clicking on the marble floors.

 

Mr Lynn watched her go in slack jawed amazement.Then he shuffled his papers and picked up his phone to call his receptionist to send in the next applicant.A voice from the shadows of the other door whispered,

 

“ **That one.** ”

 

Mr Lynn shivered.He stood up and walked to the door that opened into the hallway and locked it before turning to the other door.“Are you certain, lord?”

 

“ **Do not question me.That one.Arrange it.** ”

\-----

 

It had been a month since her interview with the creepy lawyer and Brie hadn’t really given the job that much more thought.Occasionally, when she was having a really bad shift at the hardware store she was working at she would shake her head and remind herself that at least she wasn’t trying to restore 160 acres of over run, over grown mess.

 

Which is why, when she saw G.B. Lynn & Associates come up on her call display, she frowned at it and ducked the call.

 

The second time they called she was rushing out the door and barely glanced at the phone.Her brain autocorrected the name to Goblynn & Ass and suddenly she realized where she knew the name.Well, now that she thought about it, he certainly had looked like a goblin.5’7 was a perfectly reasonable height, but the little lawyer had been a couple of inches shorter than she.

 

She called them back from the shelter where she waited for the bus.“Hello?This is Brie Moreno.I am returning your call.”

 

There was a brief hold before a rather breathless Mr Lynn picked up the phone.“Ms.Moreno!You interviewed with me for a grounds keeper position a few weeks back.I would like you to come in to discuss it further.”

 

“Uh huh.Has the job description firmed up a bit?”

 

The was the sound of some rustling papers, followed by, “It’s a John Deere 1025R.You can change the … bits by driving over them.There is one acre of lawn to mow, and 400 feet of driveway, two cars wide to keep clear of snow.The flower beds will need to be redesigned from scratch, but you will have up to $15000 out of petty cash to do that. “

 

Now Brie froze.“The property had not been maintained for long enough that the locals were complaining, and suddenly your… client buys a $20000 garden tractor and offers to spend and $15000 in landscaping?”

 

There was a cough, followed by, “Yes?”

 

Brie shook her head.“This is where it turns out he is a serial killer and the grounds are full of shallow, unmarked graves, right?”

 

Mr Lynn laughed, “No, Ms Moreno, I assure you that all graves on the property are at least the requisite six feet.”

 

Brie didn’t laugh.

 

Mr Lynn trailed off.He tried again.“Can I at least invite you to come view the property and see if it is a project you would consider?You were right.You were the only applicant that was interested in the work and not just the accommodation.”

 

Now Brie snorted, “In this housing market?Are you really surprised, Mr Lynn?”

 

He sighed, “In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been.”

 ----

 

Mr Lynn frowned when he saw someone else in the car with Ms Moreno.The one who lived here wasn’t going to like that.None the less, he was interested in what she had to say.He stepped forward to shake their hands.

 

“Mr Lynn, “ Brie nodded, “this is my brother Ignacio.He wanted to check the place out with me.I hope you don’t mind.”

 

Iggy grinned, “Well, I couldn’t let my baby sister drive out to the middle of nowhere to meet strange men, now could I?”

 

“Hmmm.If you won’t be able to allow her to reside here and do her job, then there is no point in us continuing.”

 

Brie elbowed him.“It’s fine.It was a much more interesting drive with someone along to keep me company.”

 

“Indeed.”Mr Lynn cleared his throat.“Right, first things first.The owner of this house does not come out during the day.He has an unfortunate… facial deformity and doesn’t not appreciate being stared at.To that end, whether you get the job or not, the first rule is no peeking in the windows.In fact it would be better if you didn’t spend too much time looking at the house at all.”

 

The Morenos nodded carefully.

 

Mr Lynn continued, “The expectation must be that you will never see, let alone meet your employer.Any related business will be handled through me.Is that quiet understood?”

 

Iggy rolled his eyes. Brie nodded solemnly.

 

“Good.”He watched them for another moment.“Right.This way.”He opened the gate blocking the driveway and ushered them inside.“Starting right here, there is a 400 foot drive way you will need to keep clear of snow in the winter.It is flag stone, so there may occasionally be some weeding.” He gestured toward the house. “The front acre or so is the lawn that needs to be mowed.” He frowned at the long grass, “Fairly soon, it look like.”

 

He showed the behind the house were the vegetable gardens had gone to weeds, then to the over grown orchards that had years of dropped fruit on the ground.Beyond that was the untouched old growth forest that covered most of the property.“It all surrounded by an wrought iron fence.”

 

Brie gestured to the ancient yew tree the drive circled before heading back toward the main road, “How old is the tree?”

 

Mr Lynn’s eyes narrowed, “Does it matter?”

 

Brie shrugged. “Not really.I’ve just never seen one that big.”She changed the subject.“Does snow clearing go all the way up to the front door?I mean it must, for grocery delivery and whatever.It looks like the railing on the porch needs to be replaced.

 

The goblin like lawyer turned to consider this for the first time.“I will make arrangements to get that done.”He paused for a moment then continued.You will have to coordinate clearing the snow with me.The owner enjoys his privacy.Which is also why you may not roam the grounds after dark.The cottage is this way.” He gestured off to the south, leading them in that direction.“It has it’s own drive and gate and is on the more direct road for getting to the local town.”

 

The cottage was tiny but perfect. It was build over and around the garage.“You do not get indoor parking.That is reserved for the garden tractor.But there is a little back deck where you set up some cafe chairs or something.Keep a bicycle.It is a short ride into town.You could always arrange indoor parking there if you need it.There is one car worth of parking space between the gardener’s gate and the cottage.”

 

Brie considered this, there was a separate iron fence encircling the cottage and it’s enclave.There was an iron arch with double door sized gates between the cottage and the main property.“I’m assuming the owner won’t venture past that fence.I stay out of his space when I’m not working and he stays out of mine.”

 

Mr Lynn shrugged.“I would not presume.But I suspect he would not desire the attention.”

 

“I would want to know,” Brie insisted.“There aren’t any curtains on the windows of the cottage and your client isn’t the only one who doesn’t like strangers peeking in at him.”

 

“I will pass along your concerns.”Then he told her the salary.

 

Brie’s jaw dropped.Then she recovered, “But how much is deducted for the rent of the cottage?” she asked.

 

Mr Lynn shook his head.“None.My client is aware of the awkward nature of this arrangement.He wants to make sure you aren’t willing to risk the loss of income when you are tempted to… clean the windows, shall we say?”

 

Brie blinking, “Is that not part of the job?”

 

“The job, Ms Moreno, stops at the walls of the house and the gates of the fence.”They stared, assessing each other for a while.

 

Then Iggy cleared his throat and said, “What kind of tractor is it?”

\----

Through the windows he watched the tiny group walking the grounds.He was unhappy to be sharing his space with anyone.He craved the isolation.

 

Still his goblins had concerns about people coming to explore the seemingly abandoned property.He cared less.They came.If they found him, they did not leave.He had been chided the last time.Him!He was told that if people went missing, then other people would come looking for them.Better to hire a grounds keeper and dissuade idle trespassers.

 

He watched the woman through his window.He remembered her from the interview, she smelled like sunshine and potting soil.He watched her now, as she carefully poked at what remained of the gardens and thought of that smell as he took himself in hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make the writing go!


	3. Moving In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brie (Gabriela) was previously known as Chloe. It had to be changed for reasons

Once she accepted the job, moving Brie into the cottage took hardly any time.Her brother, her sister in law and her brother’s rec league football team had done it in a single day.The cottage wasn’t that big, which was fine because Brie didn’t have that much stuff.

 

They all laughed about the low ceilings and narrow stairs.

 

Tessa was surprised that the appliances were all so new they still had the stickers on them.She pulled Brie aside and said, “We can just pack it all up and head home. It isn’t too late.”

 

Brie stared at her, “What are you talking about?This place is great!”

 

Tessa sighed, “You are here as a glorified gardener, Brie!But this guy bought you all new appliances and re decorated the kitchen and his paying too much money for what he is asking.Gardeners aren’t that hard to find.Just you wait, it’s going to turn out this place is wired up and he’s selling pictures of you in the shower on the internet!”

 

Brie just laughed, “Of me in the kitchen, you mean.It is shiny and new, but the rest of the place was empty when we got here.The bathtub is still cast iron, for christ’s sake!Besides, if they wanted a girl for porn, there were prettier girls than me waiting for interviews.”

 

“You are adorable!” Tessa insisted.

 

Brie shrugged.“I’m ok.I could stand to lose a few pounds.I’m hoping the landscaping with help with that.”

 

Tessa punched Brie playfully in the arm.“Maybe, but years of lifting stuff at the hardware store has certainly given you a set of guns.”

 

Brie groaned and pushed her sister in law.“Ugh.Don’t say that!”

 

“Why?You have earned the right to bare arms!”

 

Brie covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

 

Still, once every one had left, the quiet was overwhelming.Brie set her laptop up and played some music through the tiny speakers as she swept the floors, then scrubbed the bath tub.And if she spent a little bit of extra time cleaning the bathroom looking for cameras, well, that was Tessa just making her paranoid.

\----

He expected she would be getting curtains at some point, but for tonight, he was happy to be able to peek in through the windows at his new… employee.She seemed to be settling in just fine.If he was going to be forced to have a … grounds keeper, at least he had found an aesthetically pleasing one.He might even let her succeed in growing some flowers.

 

He spent entirely too long watching her that night.In the morning, when he had retreated back to his lair, the sound of the tractor firing up to mow his lawn happened way too early.He would have to arrange for mowing to happen in the afternoons.There must be other things, quieter things, she could be doing before 10 am.

 

He pulled himself of the iron bedstead where he slept and watched her through the tattered curtains of his bed room.Cutting the lawn wasn’t as straight forward as he expected.It was so over grown, she could only make one pass before the bag filled up and she had to drive off to empty it.The Lord of Darkness was not a morning person.He summoned an imp to bring him coffee and blood apples for breakfast.

 

Once the girl was half way through mowing she went and sat under The Tree.Darkness did not like that.None the less, she sat.She drank something from a bottle and rested in the shade.He hated that.He wanted to go storming out through the front door and tear her to pieces.How dare she!Sitting in the shade of The Great Tree, leaning her back against it as though it was nothing.

 

He seethed.After a few minutes she got up and looked hard at The Tree.Then she walked up to it and wrapped her arms around its trunk.

 

Or she tried.The Tree was Old.She could barely reach half way around.

 

Darkness remembered sacrifices chained in that position.Their naked bodies scratched bloody by The Trees bark as he used them for his pleasure.As he watched her he brought a clawed hand to his throat, holding it carefully the way he might on someone he wasn’t ready to kill yet.Then he ran his hand over his broad chest, feeling the muscles beneath his skin.He ran his hand down and over his adonis belt to the soft cashmere fur of his pelt, cupping his sheath idly.

 

But before he could even allow his cock to drop, the girl was back on that damned tractor roaring over another section of lawn. 

 

He ground his teeth in frustration and smashed the coffee cup on the floor before turning and absentmindedly grinding the shards beneath his hooves as he headed for the cool darkness of the cellar.Leaving the infuriating noise of the tractor in his wake.

\----

Brie came home that night with a smug sense of accomplishment.It had taken all damned day, but the lawn was mowed.And so were the over grown garden beds.Now that they had been cut back she could measure them for plants tomorrow.

 

She opened her laptop to find website to plan a planting and found an email waiting for her.From Mr Lynn.Apparently, his client was insisting that she not mow before noon.Well, for regular maintenance that would work.He had also included a list of plants he wanted included in the flower beds.

 

It read almost as though he had just copied the list of poisons plants from wikipedia.Monks hood, fox glove, angel’s trumpets, morning glory, hemlock, oleander, scotch broom, belladonna, crown vetch, clematis, lily of the valley, hyacinth.

 

OK, so there were some beautiful flowers in there, but they had nothing in common in terms of colour or growing requirements.In fact, the only thing Brie could see tying them all together was that they were all toxic.She sent a polite reply back to the lawyer say that she would see what she could do, but that they weren’t really plants that usually turned up in the same garden.

 

Almost immediately, his reply came saying that she was to do her best.With a second comment under the signature line asking her to leave “The Great Tree” alone.He had included the capitalization.Brie shook her head.The upper branches needed a good pruning, but it would take a team of arborists and a scissor lift to pull that off.

 

Brie shrugged.That was when she noticed that she had managed to sunburn her shoulders.She groaned and went to find water to drink and her keys to head into town to buy some aloe.She had her tea in the local pub, but stuck to water because drinking with heat stroke was a sucker’s game.And she still needed to drive home.

 

The bartender laughed and asked where that might be.

 

When she told him, the pub went silent.The bar man cleared his throat and asked if she had seen anything… strange up there.

 

“Like what?” Brie ask, sipping her water.

 

The man, Micheal, just shrugged, “Oh... Anything.There are a lot of stories about the manor.”

 

Brie laughed, “The only strange thing I have seen is how long the lawn had gotten.”

 

But after she had eaten and paid for her meal, the waitress, Charmeine, caught her arm on the way out, “You just be careful, up there.Not a good place to go wandering after dark.”

 

Brie frowned, but promised to be careful.

 

Still, driving home in the dark there had been an awful lot of eyeshine in the woods around the manor.She told herself, it must just be the deer.With those abandoned fruit orchards, the forrest must be full of them.

 

Oh.

 

Suddenly the poisonous plant list made sense.It was all flowers the deer wouldn’t eat.Well, that was a whole different story.She would need to make a trip into the city for most of those plants and order a bunch of seeds off the internet.But, with care, she could make beautiful, deer proof flower beds.

\----

It wasn’t deer that watched Brie come home that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please!


	4. The Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter comes with an attempted rape warning. And a little body horror. Personally, I don't think it is that bad, but take care of yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops! With apologies, chapters were briefly posted out of order. This should be better.

In the last two months, Brie had settled into a routine. Weeding early in the morning before it got too hot. The flower beds were looking awesome. Brunch in her cottage around 10 when the sun was at its worst. Followed by nap since she got up around five. Mowing or pruning happened after two in the afternoon. The orchards were looking … better, but if she were honest that wasn’t saying much. They had merely gone from awful to shabby.

She had yet to see any signs of life from the house, although keeping in mind Mr Lynn’s story about the owner, she had respectfully not looked for any. She knew he was watching her, at least some of the time. Any time she did anything near the big tree at the front of the house, she came home to find an email waiting for her. It got to the point where she would let Mr Lynn know what she was planning to do near it and why the day before so she could deal with any objections that came up ahead of time.

Mostly she left it alone.  

She had found a stone bench in one of the orchards where she could stop for water or snack breaks. It was surrounded by apple trees and creepy statues, but Brie was mostly able to ignore them.  

Artistically, they were very good, the problem was the subject matter. There was a marble angel worthy of any museum, except he was engaged in sexual activities with tentacle monsters. Prometheus and the eagle, traditional enough, but Prometheus had one hell of a stiffy and was arched back over the rock as though he were enjoying the experience, complete with the O face. All the statues human sized and clearly enjoying themselves, it was just that they were engaged in all manner of taboo activities from the three men one high five away from an Eiffel tower to the three ladies engaged in cannibalism of a young man (complete with spilling entrails) as well as a fair amount of beastiality. The bench itself was big enough to be a sarcophagus, but wasn’t a box. It was a marble slab with vines carved into the edge resting on two pillars, which (in keeping with the theme) were a small naked man and woman bent double under the weight of it.

She supposed that when they were carved, they had been incredibly risqué, but these days a quick google search could find you much worse content. In the meantime, she felt it was her job to clear the ivy away. After all, maybe the owner would want to sell them at some point. She was sure there was someone on the internet who would be interested.

Supper was always in the pub. By then she needed some human contact. The pub was a family business, even it was a an odd family, and had the slightly dorky name: A Wing and A Prayer. The barmen were the three oldest brothers, who only ever went by their nicknames as they appeared to be named after turtles, Mike, Gabe and Rafe. The waitstaff was sisters and cousins to the barmen, Dina, Manny, Joe, Tabby and, of course, Charmeine.

Tabby had taken Brie under her wing and was always encouraging her to try new things and consider some community college courses. “C’mon, Brie! You need something to fall back on we you don’t want to garden any more.”

Brie would just laugh and shake her head. “I’m saving hard. When I don’t want to garden anymore, I’ll figure out school then.”

But tonight there was no visiting with the staff. The main road in town was getting new tarmac and the pub was full of road crew. Brie was late getting in and all the tables were full. Oh well, she could always sit at the bar. The food was divine, as always, but her enjoyment was rather spoiled by the dust covered asshat sitting next to her. She concentrated on ignoring him. She just finished her dinner and her drink and wanted to leave.

It was full dark out by the time Brie left. She figured she must be really dehydrated because that one beer she had nursed through supper was hitting her hard. She was glad she had brought her bike because there was no way she should be driving. 

She was barely out of own when she got off the bike to walk. Her balance was shit. Beer never hit her this hard. By the time she had reached the corner of iron fence marking the edge of the property she was hardly able to walk.

That’s when the truck pulled up.

The loser from the bar got out.

“You almost got away on me.” he laughed. ‘I’m surprised you are still upright.”

And just like that, she wasn’t. She fell down over her bicycle and felt hands dragging her away from it. She was laying on her belly on the dirt road and there wasn’t anything she could do about it. The world was spinning. She felt sick. A boot was wedged under her shoulder and she was flipped onto her back. The moon was full and way too bright. She squinted, the light hurting her eyes.

Someone was undoing her pants. Brie tried to bat the hands away. She was barely able to lift her arms. The man was silhouetted in the headlights of his truck.

Her pants were gone now. He pulled out a pocket knife and flipped it open, slicing down her shirt and through her bra. He pushed her knees up and apart.

Brie was barely able to roll her head to the side. On the other side of the fence the woods were full of eyeshine.

The truck lights went out.

The weight from on top of her was suddenly gone.

Someone was screaming. It wasn’t her. They were screaming a lot. The was a wet splat and the screaming got more desperate. The screaming was replaced by someone pleading stop.

A large, warm, slightly damp and sticky hand cupped her face and turned her to face back at the night sky which swirled overhead like a Van Gogh. 

A face appeared in her field of vision.

It was the devil. Big horns, red skin, glowing yellow eyes with wide pupils like a cats. Brie was dimly aware that wasn’t right. She managed a pathetic whimper.

The devil clicked his tongue at her and grinned revealing sharp teeth. He caressed her face, his claws gently pricking at her skin.

Brie shivered and closed her eyes. The last of her clothes were pulled away, then she was lifted on the dirt road and cuddled against a warm chest. The devil began to walk, she felt where he stepped easily over the iron fence. That was wrong. Why was the wrong? No. NO! He shouldn’t be here.

A deep bass voice rumbled, “ **I am taking you safely home, my lady.** ” She was pulled tighter against the chest. She could hear a deep slow heart beat.

\----

Mr Lynn arrived at the scene only a little behind the police, but ahead of the ambulance. He got to explain that it was his client that had heard the screaming and called the police. He got to watch the junior constable be sick in the bushes. He tried to ignore the man who had been disemboweled and whose entrails were currently decorating the fence. He was quite surprised by that, the master must be in a generous mood. Given the phone call he had received he hadn’t expect the man to still be alive.

He also got to identify the bicycle and women’s clothing as belonging to the grounds keeper.  He accompanied the second police cruiser to the cottage and found Ms Moreno curled up, naked, on her front step. Mr Lynn narrowed his eyes, but the superficial scratches covering her body could have been explained by a naked sprint through the woods.

\----

Brie woke up in a hospital. She knew it was a hospital by the smell. Her head hurt and, after she slammed her hand with the finger heart monitor into her face, so did her eye. Actually everything hurt. Someone hurried over and pried open her eyelid to shine a light in her eye. Rude!

“You wake, pumpkin?” Iggy asked.

“No,” Brie grumbled.

Another voice asked, “Do you know where you are, Ms Moreno?”

Brie shook her head, it was easier than talking just now.

“Do you know what happened?”

Brie tried to concentrate. “I fell off my bike. No… I fell off the ground and my bike fell on me. There was screaming and the devil was there.”

The voices whispered to each other, “She is still drugged, but that might be all you get.”

“That isn’t good enough, we need a description of who did this.”

“Try again in four hours.”

“That’s a long wait, doc.”

“That’s a lot of drugs in her system, officer.”

“She still made it home.”

“You didn’t see how much gravel we picked out of her back. She didn’t make it home on her own. Someone took her home.”

“Right, her knight in shining armor strung up her attacker and brought her safely home.”

“Not entirely. She had been dragged through the woods.”

Brie managed to pry her eyes open, “What happened?”

Iggy opened his mouth to speak but the constable interrupted, “You need to be able to give a statement before we can tell you that.”

“Hurts.”

“We can’t give you any painkillers until the drugs are clear of your system.”

“I don’t take drugs. Hadda beer. One.”

Iggy rubbed her shoulder. That hurt too, “We know, pumpkin, no one thinks you were taking drugs.”

Brie nodded and went back to sleep.

\----

Iggy drove her home the next day, after she had given her statement. She felt embarrassed and useless. “The devil did it,” was not a rational thing to say, so she had just left that part out.

The man from the bar had confessed to drugging her. He admitted he was planning a sexual assault. He couldn’t describe the man who had attacked him either. She was going to stay with Iggy and Tessa at least until the stitches came out. The scratches that covered most of her body were already mostly healed, but there was one that was going to scar.

The idea that someone was coming for her was worrying. The police could find no sign of the attacker. Mr Lynn was very supportive. Her anonymous employer was paying her wages until she was able to come back to work and promised her a severance package if she chose not to.

Her employer was very concerned for her well being, she was told.

Her family didn’t want her going back to Morning Side, and the whole week she was waiting for the stitches to come out Iggy lobbied hard for her to quit. The townspeople came to visit, bring flowers and food and assurances that nothing like this had ever happened in their town before.

The thing she didn’t know how to explain was that she wasn’t afraid. She knew she should be, but none of it seemed real. The devil did not come to save her from her rapist. The only logical explanation was that person or persons unknown had come for HIM, wearing halloween masks, and she had gotten away while they were settling whatever score they had with him.

That was the story the police were going with. It was the only rational explanation. Between the drugging and what had to be a halloween mask there was no way for Brie to identify them. The incident was widely publicized, including a bad picture of her from a friend’s facebook page.  In the city people looked at her and whispered. If she went back to her cottage, she wouldn’t have people staring at her. She wouldn’t have to see the look on her family's faces every time they saw her.

She hadn’t told anyone she remembered being carried. That made about as much sense as the idea that she was rescued by the devil. But ultimately she knew that if the person who had gone after her attacker had wanted to hurt her, he would have done it. She had been completely at his mercy. And yet, she hadn’t been raped. Or injured that severely. Most of the scratches were superficial and gone with out a trace before she even got out of the hospital. The last one was an odd unpleasant shape, but the doctors had assured her that with care the scar would fade and become unnoticeable.

Since who ever it was hadn’t hurt her at the time, she believed that there was no point in him coming back for her later.

There was a peace she had found in the cottage. The quiet. The trees. She missed it. Missed her home. Missed her garden. And it was her garden. She tended it. She never saw anyone else in it. It would be good to have something to keep her busy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please. It has been a tough week, I could use a little positive feed back


	5. The Girl

His goblins had come to him as soon as the girl was spotted at the property line. He waved lazily at that, “ **And what of it? This is her custom, is it not?** ”

“Lord - tonight she is… unwell.”

“ **I care not if she has been drinking.** ”

“It is not that, Lord, it is something else that is wrong. It seems she has been poisoned.”

He was out of his chair near the fire and charging towards the property line before his goblet hit the flagstones. The forrest guardians smashed the lights on the man’s truck as Darkness arrived. He has already stripped the woman and was holding her legs open, his dick in his hand as Darkness caught him. He held the man up by his throat as he sniffed the air catching her scent. The man was screaming and trying to escape. Darkness turned to where his groundskeeper lay, unable to run, unable to fight.

His first instinct was to bring the man home to play with, but that meant leaving the woman on the ground. It took him three strides to reach the fence and the work on a moment to open the man. A single claw slicing through skin and fat and between the rectus abdomins allowed him to be able to hook a finger around the man’s intestines and drag them out. Darkness let them fall over the iron fence, draping them like garlands over The Great Tree at Yule.

He dropped the man on the ground, fully prepared to return for him later and licked the worst of the blood and viscera off his hands as he walked towards the woman. She was laying like a corpse, legs pulled at angles humans do not place them on their own. Head flopped to once side, staring glassy eyed at the fence. He cupped her chin and turned her face carefully away from… what he had done. He did not know that she could see it. Nor was he certain she couldn’t.

Her eyes were twitching, tracking things that weren’t there. He leaned in and sniffed, caressing her face as he did so.

She whimpered.

“ **Shhh. You are safe. You are mine.** ”

He picked her up and stepped easily over the three foot fence, striding off through the woods. She started to cry, hot tears splashing against his chest.  “ **Easy. I am taking you safely home, my lady.** ”

And he was. He lay her on the grass under The Tree and stroked her body, the smell of her was driving him wild. He ran his hands over her breasts, down her belly and between her thighs before flipping her over. She was his. She lived in his space, she did his work. He had watched her through the windows of that tiny cottage. Too small for him to enter. But she wasn’t. He could feel her back muscles beneath her skin, he could smell the blood pounding in her veins. He put his hands on her ass and spread her cheeks, lifting her body to receive him.

She was as responsive as a corpse.

Except a corpse wouldn’t bleed and where ever his claws had pricked her, she was bleeding. A few drops here, a few drops there, but enough that he could smell it. Smell her pain and her fear.

She was HIS! He need to claim her! To bury his cock inside her and…

Break her tiny, unresponsive body.

No.

That wasn’t what he wanted.

He wanted her warm and willing.

Or at lease awake and screaming.

There were not many humans who came looking for his company. He took the ones that were offered to him. It wasn’t often that people offered themselves.

His.

His to….

That… man, then one strung out on the fence had tried to steal from him! She was his! HIS! She needed to be taken, to be marked. He needed to show that she BELONGED to him!

He looked down at her pathetic, scratched and bleeding body.

She wasn’t moving. Not even a little.

He could hear the police sirens now. They would be looking for her, once they found her clothes.

He sighed and ran his palm down her spine.

He only had minutes. He did not want her found in front of his house. He had to leave her at her cottage.  

He knew she slept on her right side.

Goblynn went to see her in the hospital. Then he had to tell his master that he wasn’t certain she was coming back.

Darkness paced in front of the fireplace. “ **She is coming back! She is mine! You will bring her back or I will go and get her!** ”

Goblynn just sighed. “Lord - if you or I drag her back here, she will be yours for however long you can keep her alive in your dungeon. But the mortals will have questions. They will come looking. Better to … avoid attention these days.”

“ **I do not want her in my dungeon. She is here to tend my gardens, except she isn't** **here** **to do that!** ”

“Yes Lord. But we can not force her to do that.” He hesitated, “Alright, so we _could_ , but …”

“ **It would be different. She would be different.** ”

“Yes Lord. If she comes back bringing fear in with her, she is as good as food for the beasts.”

Darkness threw back his head and roared.

“ **I saved her! I saved her from him! I saved her from me! She is mine!** ”

Goblynn gritted his teeth, “Yes. As you were clear to point out to everyone.”

Darkness nodded. Then hesitated as he noticed the tone. “ **You think this displeased her?** ”

“That you branded her on the left side of her ass as though she were livestock? That isn’t the sort of thing most women are into these days. You are only lucky that no one would recognize the rune you used.”

He tensed as he considered this, “ **I can heal that. I can erase the mark.** ”

Goblynn nodded. “You want to see her then? To reveal yourself to her?”

“ **No.** ”

 

On the tenth day, Darkness rose to the sound of that damned tractor mowing the lawn. His groundskeeper was back. He summoned an imp, “ **Bring her to me**.”

It bowed respectfully, then grew to eight feet tall and cracked its knuckles.

Darkness shook his head and raised a hand to stop the imp. He called Goblynn.

Brie was mowing and emptying the very full bags from the garden tractor. It has been too long since the grass was mowed and it was more difficult now than it needed to be. A car pulled up into the driveway, and she prepared to make herself scarce.

Mr Lynn got out of the car and waved her over.

Brie turned off the tractor and walked over. “Am I fired?” she asked.

He frowned, “Why would you be fired?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, but I have only ever seen you here the once. It was the day you hired me.”

He shook his head. “He wants to see you.” He nodded towards the house.

Brie frowned, “What’s his name?” Mr Lynn looked nervous. She continued, “My pay stubs all say Light Bringer LLC. I have never heard his name.”

Mr Lynn hesitated. “You may call him Mr Herne.”

The way he said that was wrong, “Is that his name?” Brie asked.

“It is what you may call him. Be careful not to stare. He wants to know you are alright after… what happened. But that doesn’t mean he wants to be stared at. No one goes into the house. This is the first time in years that he has asked me to bring anyone inside.”

Brie swallowed at the magnitude of that. Then she nodded. “Can you at least warn me what to expect?”

Mr Lynn shook his head. “It is more shocking than anything I could describe to you. Best to just look elsewhere.”

Brie nodded.

They walked up the stairs of the porch and knocked on the door. Then Mr Lynn pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked two dead bolts before using an ancient looking iron key on the lock below the door knob. He hesitated before opening the door.

“I have warned you not to stare. But I also need you not to scream or run away.”

Brie’s blood ran cold. “You said he had a facial deformity.”

“Yes. I did. I don’t think that fully covers… it.”

Brie nodded slowly. He was her boss after all. She could be polite for a few minutes, no matter what he looked like.

 


	6. The Meeting

Brie gasped as she stepped into the foyer.  It was a huge, grand entrance full of dark wood paneling, sweeping arches and an impressive staircase leading upstairs with huge cut glass windows letting the sunlight in.

 

It was also filthy.  There was footprints in the dusk leading up the stairs, but the house looked abandoned.  Brie hesitated.It looked like the kind of place serial killers brought their victims.Somewhere out in the country where no one would hear them scream.

 

Mr Lynn coughed.  “Yes, I know.I keep encouraging him to hire a housekeeper as well.  But he lives alone in a small suite in the northwest corner of the house and doesn’t really care about the rest. Come on.”  He headed up the stairs but stopped a moment later when he realized she hadn’t moved.“What is it?”

 

Brie swallowed, then coughed at the dust.  “I… just…it is really creepy, Mr Lynn.”

 

He sighed and hung his head.  “I understand completely.I’ll let Mr Herne know you aren’t coming.”

 

“I could wait here.  He could come meet me here.” Brie offered.

 

Mr Lynn shrugged, “I’ll go ask, but he feels safest in his own rooms.”

 

Brie nodded slowly, “So do I.”

 

He didn’t say anything.  He just waited patiently.  Brie took a deep breath and headed up the stairs.  She stayed a couple of steps behind Mr Lynn in case she needed to make a run for it. Up the stairs, down a long hall and into a brightly lit sitting room where the lead glass windows were floor to crown molding in the corner room with 15 foot ceilings.  The lawyer waved Brie to sit on the sectional in the corner.It was thick with dust, so she stood and looked out the window.

 

He left via the huge oak pocket doors.  Unlocking the latch then squeezing through and latching it behind himself.  Brie was vaguely aware of voices on the other side as she considered the woodwork around the windows.

Gobynn startled as he found his master still sitting by the fire.  “I thought you were going to look human for this,” he hissed.

 

“I can’t.  I haven’t hidden my form in more than a century.  I can’t do it anymore.”

 

Goblynn stared at him.  He know what it cost Darkness to admit that.

 

“Send her away.  Tell her I changed my mind.”

 

“Lord, I don’t wish to question you, but-”

 

“Then don’t.  Send her away.  I will speak to her later.”

 

Goblynn didn’t think he would be able to talk Brie into entering the house a second time.  He turned and unlocked the pocket doors and stepped out nervously.She turned to face him.He smiled awkwardly and cleared his throat.  “Mr Herne… That is… Mr Herne has… he is… not able to see you at this time.”

 

Brie frowned and stretched up to try to see over the lawyer’s head.  She raised her voice a little and called out, “Did you want to talk to me anyway?”

 

Mr Lynn startled at that, “What do you mean?  I told you he couldn’t see you just now.”

 

“Yeah, I got that.  I was wondering if Mr Herne wanted to talk to me through the door.  Without seeing me, I mean.”

 

From behind him, Darkness’s voice rumbled, “I want to know if you are well after… what happened.”

 

“I’m fine.” Brie assured him.  “The man who drugged me won’t be back.  I don’t know who came after him, but they weren’t interested in me, so I wouldn’t think they will be back.”

 

Darkness rumbled something unintelligible.

 

“I’m sorry?” Brie said.  “I didn’t quite get that.”

 

“I understand you … were injured.”

 

“I uh… I was drugged.  That wore off by the next morning.  I had… some cuts that needed stitches.  There will be some scarring, but not where-”  she froze and blushed the forced herself to continue, “not where anyone will see.”

 

“When I hired you and brought you here that was not a danger I could foresee.”

 

Brie replied, “It isn’t really the kind of thing anyone plans for.  I mean, I know it happens, but everyone thinks it happens to someone else.”  She thought for a few moments then added, “Thank you for the time off.I promise this will not affect my ability to do the job.”

 

“Your ability to work is not what I am concerned about.”

 

“What happened to me will not put you in danger,” she assured him.

 

There was a long moment of silence, followed by a deep rumbling laugh.  “You are right, it won’t.   I am worried about the danger for you.  Being out after dark on your own **.** ”

 

Brie shrugged, “That is a danger anywhere.  I can’t spend my life-” she stopped before she said ‘hiding in my bedroom’ and tactfully changed it to “worrying about the one in a million long shots.”

 

“Do you enjoy your job?”

 

“Yes. You have a beautiful property, Mr Herne.”

 

There was a long enough pause that Brie wondered again about the name.

 

Then the reply came, “Not yet, but you are getting closer, Ms Moreno.  Good day.”

 

There was something odd about the way the footsteps sounded as he walked away from the pocket doors.  Brie let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.Mr Lynn hustled her out of the house.As he was locking the door he muttered, “Well that was more tactful than I could have hoped.”

 

Brie was offended.  “I do have some manners, Mr Lynn.”

 

“You weren’t the one I was worried about.  Mr Herne has spent a very long time in self isolation.  He doesn’talways remember how to behave around human beings.”  Then he frowned at her, “If you need to take the rest of the day off after that, I completely understand.”

 

“I still have half the lawn to mow.  I’m not going to start slacking off now.”

 

“Sometimes people have a headache or feel ill after meeting Mr Herne.”

 

Brie snorted, “Given the amount of dust in the house, I can see that.”  Mr Lynn followed her back to the tractor.Since he was there she asked, “I never see any grocery deliveries, Mr Lynn.”

 

“They are timed for after you are done for the day.”

 

“Oh.  Only, you could email me a list and I could pick things up while I’m in town.  Maybe save you some delivery fees.” Brie offered.

 

“I will keep that in mind,” and with that the little lawyer left.

 

It was a fight to finish mowing the lawn.  Mr Lynn was right.Her head hurt and where she previously had no trouble ignoring the house, now it felt like it was sucking at her eyes.  Brie had a hard time focusing on her work.Once the lawn was mowed and the bags were emptied for the final time, she drove the tractor back to her cottage and parked it in the garage.  It was still a little early to go to the pub to eat.

 

She wasn’t happy with that idea.  Objectively, she knew it was fine and that if she didn’t get back into her life she would end up a shut in as well.

She took her car.  She got groceries to cook for herself and came home without visiting the pub.  It was fine.She made spag bol and salad. The recipe was more than she needed, so she packed up half and messaged Mr Lynn that she would leave it on the step for Mr Herne.  If he wanted some. 

 

And she did.

 

By the time she walked to the house, dropped off dinner and walked back to her cottage, she had four messages from Mr Lynn telling her not to.  She thought about that then replied.

 

\--Too late. I already dropped it off.  He can ignore it . I’ll pick up the dishes tomorrow.--

 

She ate her meal with a glass of wine, sitting on the little back deck watching the sun go down.

 

Darkness looked at the meal on his table.  He didn’t cook.He didn’t usually eat cooked food.  Or vegetables.Or… whatever this was.He frowned then looked at the imp who had brought it in to him.

 

The imp cowered.

 

“Why would she bring me this?” he demanded.

 

The imp flinched.  “Should I throw it away, Master?” it grovelled.

 

Darkness sniffed the plate before him.  “It can stay.”

 

It was not the offerings of old.  It did not taste of pain or fear or humans trying -and failing- to manipulate him to their own ends.  It was peasant food.It tasted like empathy.That was not a flavour he had experienced before.  The plate was not fine china.The flatware was not silver.The food itself had been packaged in some sort of plastic container.  By all rights, he should reject it as far too shabby of an offering.If it had tasted like pity, he would have.

 

But it tasted empathy.

 

And he wondered what Goblynn had told her to make her think they had anything in common.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [New Tumblr Blog! Twice daily updates with a selection of my stories. No filler, just monster stories. ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pixieungerwrites)


	7. Dreaming

 

He was a prisoner in his own house. On his own property because he couldn’t be seen without causing wide spread panic. But also in his house because Darkness was thirteen tall from hooves to horns. The only way he could physically fit out of the building was by crawling out the double front doors.

In times gone by, he could take human form, for a time. That took energy, life force. Contrary to popular belief, it had to be freely offered. Now that said, the person freely offering didn’t have to offer their own. If they sacrificed a child or a spouse, that still counted as freely given. And it didn’t have to be a blood offering. Prayers counted, worship counted, even time given counted.

It wasn’t just spag bol, it was a sacrifice of the time to make it, the time shop for the ingredients, a sacrifice of a future meal given up to share with him. And given that she had grown the salading, it was a sacrifice of the time she spent planting, weeding, watering, of the sunburn she had gotten to grow the veg.

It was the first offering he had received since before world war two when the previous occupants of the house had gone to war and not returned.

It tasted like empathy. And because hunger is the best sauce, it tasted amazing.

It wasn’t enough for him to change, and he couldn’t fit into Brie’s cottage like this. Not even if she could see him without screaming. In the dark of night he could peek in her windows, but she couldn’t see him. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t run her off. Not if she was going to feed him.

Offerings freely given were hard to come by these days.

Marbus Herne had been a local god. The god of The Great Tree as a matter of fact. He had remained famous after many of his contemporaries had faded into obscurity. He even had a mention in Shakespeare. These days when people said his name, they mostly got it wrong. While the play still fed him every time it was read, mostly his name was misused, misunderstood. Offerings were not made to him.

He had a bed. A giant four poster, it was the size of four king sized mattresses in a square plus an extra two twin sized mattresses to get the length he needed in his cursed form.  

And it was a cursed form. Lucifer may have been sent to hell, but civil war is more complicated than that. When you are casting out the rebels, you get rid of those guilty by association as well. Once he could pass as a man. After the war, anyone marked as on the losing side was changed into something monstrous. 

Tonight he lay on his bed feeling the gift Brie had given him. He though about how he wanted to spend it. Not enough to change. It was only a small offering. It was enough to dream walk. He closed his eyes and cast his consciousness toward the tiny cottage and into the dreams of the woman who lived there.

Brie dreamed of the garden. Walking through the trees. Stars in the trees. No. Stars in the sky. She dreamed of the tree that was always referred to as The Great Tree. It was wonderfully big. It was perfect to sit under. To eat under. She dreamed about picnics and parties.

And then the moon turned red and the ravens came cawing at her. The light took on an odd bluish tint. She looked around and could see her flowers.

And he was there.

She whimpered. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. She needed to wake up.

“ **Why are you under my tree?** ”

“It isn’t your tree.”

He laughed. “ **I can assure you it is my tree. For the last three thousand years, that tree and all the offerings below it have been for me.** ”

“And who are you?”

“ **I am the one who owns that tree.** ”

“The one who talks in circles, apparently.”

“ **Sometimes. Why are you under my tree?** ”

Brie started to relax, “It’s a nice tree.”

Darkness snorted. “ **If you spend too much time under it, you will become an offering to me.** ”

Brie shook her head, “I don’t believe that.”

They spent a few moments watching each other. Darkness looking down, Brie looking way up from where she was sitting on the ground. He tilted his head down, giving her a better view of his horns. She was leaning back and looking up, giving him a better view of her chest. Darkness realized he had the better view, by far.

“ **You met the man in the house. What did you think?** ”

“I didn’t really meet him. I spoke to him. He didn’t want to see me.”

“ **Oh, lady, you are mistaken. He wanted very much to see** **you** **. What he didn’t want was for you to see** **him** **.** ”

Brie shook her head, “It doesn’t work that way, though, does it?”

Darkness tilted his head as he considered this, “ **Yes. It does. He watches you through the curtains as you work. He lusts after you as you bend over to pull weeds. He watches the sweat drip down your neck and between your breasts. He wants to lick the salt from your skin**.”

Brie gaped at him, then laughed, “Right. Wow. What an imagination I have! I’m having a conversation with the devil about some little old, disfigured man lusting after my dirt covered fat ass.”

Darkness was incredibly offended by so many things in that statement, but the one he needed to address first was, “ **I am not the devil!** ”

“Looked in a mirror lately, have you?”

He narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. “ **I am not the devil.** ” He hesitated how to describe himself, because, yes, that was what he looked like. “ **I am the guardian of The Great Tree.** ”

“Who looks like the devil.”

“ **Christians made the devil look like anything ancient. The devil was a cat with a human face - like the sphinx in Egypt. The devil was a man who wore the skin of the wolf - like the berserks of Scandinavia. I do not look like the devil. You made the devil look like me.** ”

Brie considered this. “Yes. I can see that.”

Darkness blinked. That wasn’t how he had expected that to go. “ **It is a nice tree.** ”

Brie nodded, “It hasn’t been well cared for though. It hasn’t been pruned, there are a lot of dead branched that should be trimmed out so the sunlight can get into it. The ground beneath it should be weeded and planted with micro clover to fix nitrogen and act as a living mulch.”

“ **You… wish to care for this tree? It is not your job.** ”

“No, it isn’t, but it is a nice tree. It’s too bad the owner won’t let me.”

“ **I own this tree and I will allow it.** ”

Brie snorted, “Yeah, well, you are a figment of my imagination and I will get fired if I can’t follow directions.”

“ **If you no longer sit beneath the tree, where do you go?** ”

“There is a bench in the orchard with the statues.”

Darkness blinked, this woman was full of surprises, “ **The ones in the blood apple orchard? Do they not offend you?** ”

Brie smiled sheepishly, “Now I know you are ancient. You obviously have never heard of hentai.”

“ **Explain it to me,** ” Darkness demanded.

Now Brie blushed, “um… I don’t think so. You can go looking for porn on your own time.”

“ **I don’t need to go looking, it is in my statue garden any time I wish to view it.** ”

“Ha! You are wrong! It was all over grown with ivy when I found it. That is very bad for the marble. No one had been looking at that porn in decades.”

“ **Do you enjoy looking at my statues?** ”

Brie gasped and sat bolt upright in her bed. Holy shit, she thought, that was a strange dream. It was probably a flash back to the guy in the halloween mask. She shivered and got up to close her bedroom window. She didn’t remember opening it.

In the morning, her tupperware and dishes were washed and waiting neatly on her front step with a polite thank you note writer on strange paper. She smiled softly to herself and headed out to start her day. She was making good money here. She could afford to cook for two. She wondered if Mr Herne would like burgers for supper.


	8. Darkness - 8 the missing chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I missed posting this one

Brie had being bringing Mr Herne suppers for a few weeks when it happened. She set dinner down on the step and was about to leave when the locks clicked open and the door opened about an inch. “Oh! Mr Herne! Just give me a moment. I haven’t left yet.”

“ **Would you join me for dinner?** ”

Brie froze but did not turn around. “Mr Lynn told me I wasn’t supposed to try to see you.”

“ **Ah. Of course. I was lonely, but you are not hired to correct that.** ”

That made her hesitate. “Are you inviting me to see you?”

“ **What did Lynn tell you about me?** ”

“That you had… A facial deformity.”

“ **I have … some scarring. I don’t like it when people stare.** ”

“So why invite me?”

There was a sigh from the other side of the door. “ **I don’t pay you to bring me dinner, but you do anyway. I thought maybe you would be willing to sit and talk to me. Just for a little while.** ”

“Except that if you don’t like how I look at you, or what I have to say, I loose my job.”

“ **You are a good gardener. If you have nothing to say to me, it will not effect your job. You were hired by Lynn not me.** ”

“Can I think about it?”

“ **Of course. Thank you for dinner.** ”

Brie bolted for her cottage. She thought about it. After the first time, her dishes started to be returned with thank you notes, then flowers, the occasional little box of artisanal chocolates, once a bottle of white wine. Small gifts. Thoughtful gifts. Nothing too big. Nothing… that felt like it would come with an obligation.

Except… his voice. It was deep and rich and chocolatey smooth. He could pretty much talk the panties off her without too much work. It was, in fact the voice her dreams had paired with the monster face she had hallucinated when she was laying on the road.

It was hard to remember… had the man in the halloween mask actually spoken to her? She had never seen Mr Herne leave the house. Was he the one who had found her? More importantly, was he the one who had attacked … the man who wanted to rape her. Which lead to the hard question of if he was, how did she feel about that? She didn’t remember much of that night, but she certainly remembered feeling helpless and afraid.  Except she had no idea who had carved into her.

For weeks she had been dreaming about a demon with that voice. She would be in the middle of the usual nonsensical dream and he would appear and they would have a conversation. And now, her employer was inviting her for dinner. With that voice. This was a lot more complicated than it should be. Shit. She needed a drink.

And so, for the first time since she had been attacked, she went to the pub for a drink.

\----

“Michael?”

“What can I do for you, love?”

Brie shuffled awkwardly at the term of endearment. “Uh, your family had lived here a while, right? What’s the story with Mr Herne?”

Michael stiffened. “He stays on his little plot of land and we stay out of it and that works just fine. I was surprised when I heard he was hiring a groundskeeper, to be honest.”

Brie considered this. “Alright, so what’s the gossip about Mr Herne?”

Now Michael laughed. “Oh, you are looking for slander are you?”

Brie grinned, “Maybe just a little. He invited me to dinner, said he was lonely. But the lawyer who hired me said that he was disfigured and that I shouldn’t expect to see him. I was wondering what to expect.”

Michael considered this as he wiped down the bar. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know anyone who has been inside. Growing up, it was always the haunted abandoned house that none of the kids were brave enough to visit. Until the ad went up, know one knew for certain that anyone was living there. The place where the red apples grew.”

Brie nodded. “I have heard of that, of course, but I hadn’t ever seen one until I arrived here. Is that it? Creepy house with weird fruit?”

Tabby came up behind Brie and leaned in to add, “They say that there was some weird Victorian cult orgy and they summoned a demon who is trapped in the house.”

Brie blinked. Michael laughed. “Yeah, they say that, but it’s ridiculous! No one really believes it.”

Tabby shrugged, “It would explain what happened to Brie’s attacker.”

Michael frowned, “C’mon! Which seems more likely? A friend or family member of the other more than twenty women he has now confessed to assaulting hunted him down and got revenge or that a two hundred year old demon did it?”

Tabby shrugged. “Well, when you put it like that.” Then she looked at Brie, “Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. Wow! You have gone white as a ghost!”

Brie bought a bottle of wine, she expected that she would never drink beer again, and brought it home and thought about what she wanted to do next. In the end, she wrote her reply on a sticky note and left it on her door:

Mr Herne - 

I would be happy to join you for a picnic tomorrow

in the back flower garden

  Brie

That night she dreamed that Mr Herne was the elephant man.

At least until her dream demon turned up and laughed at her. “ **Is that what you think he looks like?** ”

Brie blinked and looked up at him. “When my imagination came up with you, I gave you his voice.”

The demon blinked his big yellow eyes, his pointed ears twitching. “ **And what if he looks like me?** ”

Brie shook her head. “He won’t. No one looks like you. You aren’t real. I am only considering that because of that story from Tabby.”

Her demon hissed and stepped back. “ **Is she still in town?** ”

Brie frowned, “Yeah. Her whole family lives there.They run the local pub, The Wing and the Prayer.”

The demon disappeared in a swirl of black cape and inky black smoke. When she turned back to her picnic, the elephant man was gone. Then everything was gone and she was sitting alone in the void.

She did not dream anymore that night.

In the morning her dishes were there and written on the bottom of her sticky note was:

AGREED

— M

She wondered about the M. She had no idea what Mr Herne’s first name was.

After work, Brie went back to her cottage and had a shower. She debated putting on a sundress, then reminded herself this wasn’t a date. She packed a picnic lunch of some sandwiches, some fruit salad and cut up vegetables. Things that would be easy to eat with your hands. She brewed a big jar of iced tea and put everything into a cooler with a blanket.

It was still an hour before dark when she set up about fifty feet away from the house in the back flower garden. And waited. Ten minutes later, she was sure he wasn’t going to show up. She waited another ten, then started to pack up.

“ **Wait!** ”

Brie froze, but did not look up. A moment later he sat down a little ways behind her. She wondered about that. “Mr Herne, if you aren’t comfortable being here, I can just leave you some dinner and head back to my cottage.”

From behind her, there was a soft sigh, “ **I don’t want you to go. It has just been a long time since I have done this.** ”

Brie smiled to herself. “Yeah, from the amount of dust on your sofa, I suspect you haven’t had guests in a while.”

“ **Is that why we are eating out here?** ”

Brie blushed a little but nodded.

There was a long and awkward silence before he said, “ **Would you call me Marbus? Mr Herne seems overly formal.** ” Brie started to turn to look at him, then froze. He chuckled, “ **It isn’t as bad as Lynn makes it out to be. I hope.** ”

Brie looked up, slowly. He was wearing a very expensive smoke grey suit, with a light purple tie. His hands had long fingers. He was wearing cufflinks. She wondered idly if he had dressed up for her. Maybe she should have wore the sundress after all. He was tall and lean like an olympic swimmer. Broad shoulders and narrow hips. It took her a moment to actually look up at his face and not just because she was admiring his chest. When she finally peeked up at his face through her eyelashes, he was watching her nervously.

He was clean shaven and quite handsome, despite the three deep scars on the right side of his face, and appeared to be only a little older than she was. He smiled wryly, “ **Hello.** ”

Brie smiled back and relaxed. “Hi.”

“ **How bad is it?** ” Brie blushed hard and looked away. “ **That bad?** ” he asked sadly.

Brie shook her head. “Not bad at all. I’m just embarrassed because, you are right, Mr Lynn had made it sound much worse.”

He barked out a laugh, “ **Ah yes! He tends to prepare everyone for the elephant man.** ”

Brie shivered. It wasn’t the cold but Marbus immediately took off his coat and passed it to her. It smelled a little musty, but not as bad as she expected. “Thank you.” She slid the picnic box towards him. 

He took a sandwich. “ **Do you mind if I ask how you because a professional gardener?** ”

Brie went with the job interview answer, talking about gardening with her grandmother followed by a job with a landscaping company during the summers while she was in high school. Conveniently mentioning how she had been saving for school, but leaving out how she had also needed to help support her family. Or that working all through high school meant her grades had suffered enough that (while she had passed) she wasn’t in a great place to go to university. But when he asked what her grandmother was like, she set her plate on the ground and looked up at him.

“Mr Herne. I don’t know enough about you to even know what questions to ask. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

He had frozen for a moment then leaned away from her.

Brie nodded. “I”m sorry. Thank you for joining me for dinner. This… was a nice experiment.”

He looked startled, “ **You don’t want to talk to me anymore?** ”

Brie shook her head as she started to pick up the dishes, “I am not talking to you, I am talking at you. And there is only so much of myself that I feel comfortable sharing when you aren’t able to reciprocate.”

Herne blinked and thought fast. “ **I spent most of my life in a refugee camp. A little prison for me and my kind where the occupying forces could twist and manipulate our stories and hurt us as they liked. I inherited this house as while ago, but I don’t generally like people enough to leave it.** ”

Brie stopped and rocked back on her heels. For only the second time that night she looked hard at his face, trying to gauge his story. She wanted to ask what country, or point out that he had no accent, but the pain and fear she saw on his face stopped her. She looked a way and nodded, “Thank you for telling me.”

At that he stood up suddenly, “ **I have to go.** ”

“I’m sorry I upset you.”

“ **Lynn is right. I’m not good at people,** ” and with that he fled.

Brie packed up the rest of the picnic and hung his suit jacket on the doorknob of the house. It was full dark by the time she was walking back to her cottage.

\----

Darkness barely made it through the doors before the skin down his spine split and his cursed form burst out of the human body he was affecting. The remains of the suit fell in tatters around him and he lay on the dusty floor panting. He hadn’t lied. What he had told her was the truth. It was just that he was still in that refugee camp. With his people. Refugees from a different time. Trapped by how the world had left them behind.

He wanted her. Her smell. The sound of her voice. The way her hands moved as she talked, as though she were spinning her tales out of the aether. The way she tucked the long curls of her hair behind her ear and she was talking. The spatter of freckles where the sun had kissed her face. He wanted to go looking to see where else she had freckles.

He had been infecting her dreams for the last month. But he was no closer to her now than when he started. He pushed himself up off the floor and paced for a moment before he heard the sound of her steps out side the door.

He went very still and quiet, hoping he had locked the door. She couldn’t see him like this. She would not stay for him. If he were very, very lucky, he could seduce her with a human form and feed off of her lust to keep that form for a while. If not, he hoped she would at least stay on the grounds. A gentleness in the chaos of the world. The last thing he want was to drive her away.

She left and he waited until after midnight for her to fall into dreaming. It was called witching hour for a reason. Small magics were easier while peoples defences were down as the slept.

She was sitting on the picnic blanket, alone and waiting. When he approached her, she was crying softly. “ **Why?** ” he asked.

She turned red rimmed eyes on him and said softly, “I wasn’t trying to hurt him.”

“ **You didn’t. I was hurting before you arrived. You just gave me someone to talk to.** ”

“I made him talk about things that hurt. You are only saying that because you are a figment of my imagination.”

Darkness caught her ankle. “ **Am I you?** ”

“Yeah. My subconscious, or … I can never remember which one is ego, super ego or id. But you are one of those parts of me.”

Darkness laughed and tugged on her ankle, pulling her flat on her back. “ **Can I be your id? Can I be the desire that courses through your veins?** ” He leaned forward until his horns caged her body and sniffed along her torso. “ **Can I know what you taste like as you cum?** ”

Brie tried to sit up to look at him. He did not let go of her. “This is just a dream,” she whispered.

Darkness chuckled again, then ran his free hand over her body erasing her clothes. She shivered but did not try to pull away. “ **You did not answer my question. Will you let me comfort you?** ”

She tilted her head to peek between his goat like legs and whimpered. His cock was proportionally to his body about average for a man. But he was twice as tall and twice as broad as an average man. Plus his the head of his dick was flared like on a horse. “Not going to fit.”

He smirked. “ **It will, but that is not what I asked. Can I taste you and make you cum? Is that not what you dream about?** ”

Brie nodded slowly.

Darkness smirked and hauled her leg up and over one of his horns and he dived forward, stabbing them in to the ground and lifting her hips to meet his mouth.

Brie flung back her head and writhed as his tongue swirled over her clit and his mouth sucked at her lips. He was hitting all the right places but staying on none of them long enough. She reached down between her legs. Darkness hooked her other leg over his other horn, then caught both of her hands in one of his and pinned them over her head. He watched her as she writhed, holding her hands and her hips as he nuzzled and sucked edging her ever closer to her release only to deny her. He would occasionally stop to enjoy the desperate noise she was making, which only made them louder.

Finally, she gasped, her head flung back her wrists straining in his grasp, “Please! Please let me cum!”

“ **No. As soon as you cum, you will wake up and I am enjoying this too much for it to end.** ”

That startled her enough that she forgot he was holding her and she sat up. Instead of her now familiar dream demon between her legs, she saw Mr Herne. His lips, chin, neck and hand were coated with blood which he was sucking off his fingers.

Brie jerked awake in her bed. She was so strung out it hurt. Her period was two days early.

At the other end of the property, Darkness opened his eyes and licked the memory of her flavour from his lips. 


	9. Sick Day

Brie groaned before getting up and having a shower. Then she put on her most comfortable part of sweat pants and her official shark week t-shirt. She stripped the bed and put everything in the laundry machine in the kitchen, then wrapped up in a blanket and flopped down on the couch. After a while, she got up and found some pain meds, then went back to the couch. A while later, she got up and emailed Mr Lynn.

“With apologies, I will not be working on the yard today. I am taking a sick day. If you want to give Mr Herne the message, he will be able to wander as he likes without me there to stop him.”

Only a few minutes later the reply came, “Thank you for letting me know. Feel better soon.”

Brie sighed and shut her laptop. She found a hot water bottle and cuddled it on the couch as it started to rain.

Some indeterminate time later, she woke to a knock on her door. She lay there, planning on ignoring it, when it came again, louder this time with the sort of insistence that suggested the person knock wasn’t going away until she answered. She stumbled angrily to her feet and stomped over to the door and wrenched it open. Only to come face to navel with her nightmare demon. She took a step back but a hand reached through the door and pulled her out.

“This isn’t real!” she gasped. It took him two hands but he lifted her to his face and considered her. The rain fell all around, but not on him. Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to make sense of this. After a moment, he raised her further and sniffed at her crotch. Brie moaned in embarrassment and tried even harder to squirm away.

“ **If you aren’t careful, I’m going to drop you.** ”

She froze. “If you drop me, I’ll wake up.”

He just snorted and set her carefully on the ground. “ **What do you need?** ”

“What?” Brie had no frame of reference for what he was saying.

“ **What do you need? Bandages? Food? Sex? What will make you feel better?** ”

“This - you! - It just… feels different than it usually does.”

“ **Usually, I visit your dreams, but I could not just leave you here if you were hurting and you haven’t gone back to sleep.** ”

Brie stared up at him in disbelief, “This… this is real?”

“ **As much as anything is. What do you need?** ”

She hesitated, “There are a lot of stories about not accepting gifts from demons or fairies or-”

He burst out laughing. “ **If I wanted to steal you, I would. I wouldn’t try to buy you with gifts.** ”

“Is that what you are doing?”

He crouched low so that his body was huddled over and around hers. “ **I want to seduce you. People I can buy aren’t worth the price.** ” He tilted his head and sniffed, “ **Now, what do you need to feel better so that I can get on with that?** ”

“I … I don’t know. I have to just wait it out.” Thunder cracked somewhere nearby. Brie jumped then shivered. “I should go inside.”

“ **Come with me.** ” And with that, he scooped her up and cradled her in his arms as he strode toward the house.

“Is this real?” Brie asked again. “Are you the one who-” she stopped, not sure how to phrase the next bit. “Did you … hurt the man who…” she trailed off.

“ **Do you really want to know if I’m the one who stopped your would be rapist? I am not a knight in shining armour. If I saved you, it was only saving you for later.** ”

Brie found herself trembling. It was only partly from the cold. “Where are you taking me?”

“ **I have a warm fire in the house and many goblins who can go get whatever you need.** ” Brie stiffened in his arms. Darkness looked down at her. “ **What?** ”

“This can’t be real! It just can’t!”

“ **If it cannot be real, then clearly it is not.** ”

“Herne the hunter… I remember reading that.”

Now he froze. “ **What do you remember reading of that?** ”

Brie shook her head. “It was a long time ago. Something about the wild hunt.”

Darkness chuckled and kept walking. “ **That wasn’t true**.” As they crossed in front of the house he nodded at The Tree, “ **I am the guardian of The Great Tree.** ”

“The people in the village told me a story about a cult summoning a demon and trapping it in the house.”

“ **I predate the house.** ” He thought some more. “ **I predate the idea of demons.** ”

Brie considered this, she didn’t believe in monsters, other than the human ones. But this felt real. She could hear and smell the rain. She could feel the cold air on her face and the demon’s warm skin against hers. He set her down before the big front double door, it was clear he would have to duck to get through them.

“ **After you.** ”

Brie shook her head, “I don’t want to go in there. It’s dusty and dirty and made my head hurt.”

He turned to look at her, “ **The illusion hiding the gobins made your head hurt. I can’t enter your cottage. Not corporeally, at any rate.** ”

Brie took a step back, “Telling me the house if full of goblins isn’t exactly a selling feature.”

Darkness chuckled, “ **I will protect you.** ”

Brie looked up at him and wrinkled her nose, “How will you protect me from the dust bunnies?” The startled look on his face suggested he wasn’t expecting that as a question. “It is pretty run down in there. Are you sure there isn’t any black mould or anything?” She was surprised when he actually stopped to think about that.

“ **There isn’t in my rooms.** ”

Brie shifted awkwardly. Darkness carefully took her hand. Holding it lightly so it would be easy for her to pull away, he led her into the house. As soon as they were through the door, he scooped her up again. 

Brie protested, “I can walk.”

Darkness ignored that, “ **I didn’t plan this very well. I did not let you bring shoes. I hadn’t noticed the dirt on the floor before.** ”

Brie swallowed, “Is that really that you didn’t plan this very well or is it just that you were planning it so that I couldn’t run away?”

Darkness didn’t even pause at that one. “ **I gave you my name. I can not hurt you or lie to you.** ”

“How about misleading me? Isn’t that what demons are famous for?”

“ **There are things about me that you will not like. I will not lie to you about them, if you ask me. But I am not going to volunteer that information either.** ”

“Tell me one,” Brie insisted

They had reached the giant fireplace in the centre of the house. Darkness lay her on the rug in front of it, kneeling before her as he did so. Brie immediately struggled away from him and stood up. Even down on one knee he was taller than she, but it wasn’t quite as bad this way.

“ **Before the romans came to this land, the people who lived here would tie animals and sometimes people to the tree as offerings to me.** ”

Brie gaped, then snorted, “There is no way that tree is old enough to predate roman contact.”

Darkness tilted his head and looked at her, “ **Why ask if you won’t believe me? Why do you think your sitting beneath it makes Goblynn so uncomfortable? He is afraid I will come for you**.”

“And now you have.” Brie’s voice was deathly quiet.

Darkness was very still at that. Watching her as a cat might watch a mouse it had caught to see what it tried next, he tilted his head to the fireplace. “ **Are you not warmer here?** ”

Brie didn’t say anything.

He stood up, she backed further away. He turned and headed toward the door. “ **Make yourself comfortable. I will find you some blankets.** ” He hesitated at the door, then added, “ **some clean blankets.** ”

Once he was gone, Brie looked around the room. The things in it were an odd mish-mash of old, very old, and new. There was a huge antique table with ornate delicate carvings on the apron and legs, it looked newer than the house but not by much. Most of the chairs were human sized and matched the table but the one on each end where huge and gothic looking, the oak blackened with age. The fireplace looked absolutely primitive, as if it were older than the house, which made no sense. It looked big enough to roast an entire cow, with those weird side benches from way back when people thought that sitting in the fire place was a good idea.

Brie peered at the fire and frowned when she realized it was just fire. There was no wood, not sign of a gas line. It was as if the stones of the hearth themselves were burning. 

She accidentally made eye contact with one of the five foot tall cast iron dragon andirons. It nodded amicably at her. She jumped back. It’s mate hissed at it. They both went still, but remained focused on her.

Brie started trying to think of what had happened and where it was that she could have been drugged again. Was this some sort of LSD flash back from what ever the hell she had been given that night in the bar?

She looked out the lead glass window. She could see the path all the way to where the screen of trees blocked the view of her cottage. She knew there was a cobble stone path that led through them to the big gates that allowed access between her cottage and the main part of the property.

The door opened and Darkness came in carrying a huge iron kettle in one hand and a delicate teacup and saucer in the other. He looked ridiculous. He looked dangerous, the tiny cup in his hand emphasizing exactly how big he was.

“Why the cape?” It was out before she could stop it. Brie immediately slammed her hands over her mouth as if she would try to stuff the words back in.

Darkness merely laughed. He set down the cup and kettle and pulled the cloak around him. It covered him shoulders to hooves, but didn’t do anything to disguise the horns. “ **You may not always want to see all of me, lady.** ”

Brie looked away. At the fire. The andiron stuck out his long forked tongue and waggled it suggestively at her.

Brie blinked. Darkness snarled. The andiron stopped.

Brie closed her eyes. She didn’t know how to look at him. Straight ahead put her gaze pretty much at groin height. Up at his face was like staring at the ceiling. She heard the rattle of the tea cup on the saucer and looked over to see Darkness pouring water into the cup. “Is this one of those things where if I eat or drink anything I have to stay? Or you have some sort of claim over me?”

“ **No** ,” he said simply. After a moment he said, “ **It’s peppermint and pineapple weed. It should make you feel better.** ”

Brie walked hesitantly towards the teacup. Darkness reached for her. She froze. He let his arm fall to his side. 

Peeking into the teacup, it did indeed look like mint leaves and pineapple weed flowers. Still, “ **Have you poisoned this? Or put anything in it that will … anything else in it?** ”

“ **It is just water, mint leaves and pineapple weed flowers.** ” He seemed amused by the question.

She carefully picked up the tea cup and gave it a sniff. It smelled quite good, actually. She set down the cup and said. “Take off your cloak, please.” It fluttered to the ground a moment later. Then she looked up at his face. He was still watching her carefully, but seemed extra tense. She kept her eyes on his face for a moment as she stepped to the side of him. He turned to face her. “I want to see your back,” she explained.

Darkness went very still, but raised his head so that he was looking straight in front of him. His gaze passing over Brie’s head. She walked around him, eyeing up his body like a buyer assessing a prize bull for purchase. He closed his eyes and said nothing as she stepped into his blind spot.

Brie was surprised that he had a tail, then wondered why she was surprised. It was shaped like a cat’s tail, but without fur. It swished idly and when the tip brushed her leg, barbs flared out. They looked like the fins on a betta fish, colourful, red and soft looking. Her fingers twitched wanting to touch them, but that seemed like a bad idea. Suddenly, she realized she was staring at his ass and jerked her eye line up to his back. It was covered in scars. Stripes that looked like he had been whipped, a burn mark over one hip, and two deep gouges, one on each side of his spine. From his hip bones up, he was hairless, from his hip bones down, his legs where the classic animal legs ending in hooves. His fingernails were black and sharp looking.

As she came back around to his front she said, “I want to go home now.”

He tensed, a muscle in his neck jumping. “ **You haven’t even tasted your tea.** ”

Brie shook her head, “I’m not sick, you don’t need to take care of me.”

“ **Don’t lie to me. I can smell your pain.** ” It was said softly, a simple statement of fact.

Brie blushed and looked down. “If you can smell my pain, then you can certainly tell what is wrong. I don’t have … supplies here.”

“ **I want to help.** ”

She shook her head and turned to the door. As she grabbed the handle, a giant hand slammed into the door above her head, pushing it resolutely closed.

“ **You can leave if you insist, but I want you to consider that allowing me this gift would earn you my gratitude.** ”

He was so close, Brie could feel the heat radiating off of his body. Her breath caught in her throat. She pressed her forehead to the door. “You take me from my home and expect me to be ok with that?”

There was a long moment of silence. Then he removed his hand. “ **It would be mutually beneficial. I had hoped you would be able to understand that.** ”

The heat pooling between her legs wasn’t just her cramps. He really did have the sexiest voice she had ever encountered. And the thing was, she was just… scared.

“You frighten me,” she whispered.

“ **Come. Sit. Drink your tea. Let us see if we can get past that.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment are SO welcome. Also, I'm trying to settle into a schedule where I publish SOMETHING on Tuesdays and Fridays. Just incase you were on stand by.


	10. Negotiation

Brie sat. Darkness talked. He explained how he could keep her warm and comfortable and fed. She countered with her cottage was warm ancomfortable and this house was too run down to actually cook in. He said he could bring food in. She snorted and asked how he was going to do that.

He didn’t have an answer for that one.  

He suggested that he had a huge bath tub, big enough to hold him. Brie point out that her bathtub was big enough for her. Or, he offered, his bed was soft.

She flat out laughed at that. “How do you even fit in a bed?”

And that was his in. Darkness took her on a tour of the parts of the house that was in use. The bathroom that was really a wet room nearly as big as her whole cottage. His bedroom that certainly was. She frowned at the bed.  

“Ok, you are massively tall, but even you aren’t THAT big.”

“ **It’s the horns,** ” he admitted felling a little embarrassed. “ **Any smaller and they don’t clear the head board.** ”

“How tall are you? Exactly?”

Darkness shrugged, “ **Nine feet, approximately, plus a couple of feet of horns.** ”

Brie shook her head. “How do you get sheets that big?”

“ **Each mattress gets a fitted bottom sheet and I have four queen sized duvet covers sewn together.** ”

“How do you wash them?”

Darkness shrugged. “ **The food is delivered, the laundry is sent out and brought back. Goblynn takes are of any purchases or repairs the house needs.** ”

Brie considered this, “Or groundskeepers.”

“ **Yes.** ”

“So why not a house keeper? And some maintenance staff?”

“ **I don’t like people in my space.** ”

“You say that, but you brought me here. Twice, if you include that visit with Mr Lynn.”

“ **I have gotten used to you.** ”

‘Maybe you could get used to the cleaners as well.”

Darkness just grunted. Then he thought of something. “I **f I let the cleaners in, would you agree to spend time with me in the orchard while they are here?”**

Brie blinked, “The _porn_ orchard?”

Darkness chuckled, “ **Is that what you are calling it?** ”

“Yes. I have seen the statues, you know.”

“ **Indeed. And what did you think?** ”

“Oh, I’m sure they were incredibly risqué when they were carved.”

“ **You didn’t actually answer the question.** ”

“What do you want me to say? The artist clearly had talent, but I’m not overly impressed by the subject matter.”

“ **You would prefer angels, I suppose.** ”

“Angels are not inherently interesting. I like statues that tell a story, but those stories are like something out of the mind of a boy that has watched a lot of porn but never actually interacted with a woman.”

That made Darkness laugh. “ **Yes. I believe that is an accurate assessment of the artist.** ”

Now Brie blinked, “It, uh… it wasn’t you, was it?”

Darkness smirked at her for a moment before answering. Long enough to see her start to squirm. “ **No,** ” he said at last. “ **They were commissioned by the people who build the house.** ”

“What happened to them?”

And so, Brie spent the rest of the morning listening to stories about the people who had built the house. They had lived with him for quite a number of years. They were the ones who built his quarters. And when they left he was left behind. He told her cute stories about how the very prim victorian lady was a sleep walk and prone to forgetting her night dress. About how the husband was a total lech who you fuck anyone and anything who was incautious enough to hold still. About how angry that made the wife. He pointed out that the artist who made the sculptures perfectly captured the desires of each of them. The male statues featuring some of the husband’s wanton and taboo sexual acts and the female statue recognizing the wife’s desire to rip out her husband’s spleen.

“What about Prometheus?” Brie asked.

“ **Ah. Well that was a reference to me. Forbidden knowledge and what not**.” He waved a hand dismissively.

“Uh huh. That is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of statues out there.”

Darkness smirked, “ **Would you agree to spend time with me out there to discuss that further?** ”

Brie snorted and realized she had no idea how long she had been in the house. She hadn’t been hungry until she thought about it, but now she was. “I need to go.”

“ **Or, you could stay.** ” 

“No, it’s time for me to go back to the cottage. How do I get out of here?”

“ **I don’t want you to leave.** ” Brie’s head snapped up at that. For Darkness, fear was almost as good as worship. It was was same kind of reverential attention. Still, he knew that if he kept her here when she wanted to leave that would be all he would get from her. No more meals delivered to the house as offerings. No more easy camaraderie with her unconscious self. “ **It is still raining,** ” he tried. When that didn’t make her relax, he snorted and picked her up again, easily cupping her ass with one big, warm hand. “ **Stop squirming; I’m taking you home.** ”

It wasn’t real. Of course it wasn’t real. Even if it felt real, she had been dozing on her couch with the rain beating on her roof and here she was, snuggled in her blanket, on her couch, wrapped in her blanket with the rain falling hypnotically on her roof. It was three o’clock in the afternoon and she didn’t really feel like making lunch. Bread and jam and a mug of tea then.  

Her mom made a ritual out of tea, heating the pot, carefully measuring out the loose leaf Yorkshire Gold, adding the water right before it was boiling, milk first, then tea. Never any sugar. When she moved out, Brie had been given a two bone china teacups and saucers and a little brown betty pot. When she had company, she still went through the ritual, (allowing people to add their own milk) but sometimes she just wanted a cup of tea. Mug of water, microwave for 90 seconds, bounce the tea bag a couple of time and slosh in some milk. Inez Moreno would be beside herself, if she ever found out.

Brie was stirring in the milk by swirling the tea bag when she realized there were dirty footprints all over her floor. She frowned, wondering who had been in her cottage when she realized the bottoms of her socks were filthy.

Her phone rang and she jumped, splashing hot tea over her hand before running back to the sink and pitching whole thing and running cold water over her hand. When she got to her phone, it was Mr Lynn.

“Are you alright, Ms Moreno?”

“What? Oh! Yeah, I just spilled some tea and scalded my hand.”

“Not too badly, I hope.”

“I’ll be fine. What can I do for you, Mr Lynn?”

The lawyer sounded more upset than she had heard before when he said, “It seems we are getting some contractors in to look at bringing the house up to current building code. Would you be able to let them in when they arrive?”

“Do I need to show them around too?”

“No. Just unlock the door. They will take it from there. You will need to lock up when they leave.”

Brie considered this. “Sure. How to I get a key?”

“I’ll leave it under the mat. And Ms Moreno? I know he won’t say this himself, but our employer was pleased you joined him for dinner last night.”

Brie froze, too stunned to reply.

“Ms Moreno?”

“Yes. I’m surprised to hear that. I didn’t think he enjoyed my company at all.”

Mr Lynn sighed. “Ms Moreno, I have known Marbus Herne long enough that he is not just a client but also a friend and I can assure you that he has throughly enjoyed every interaction he has had with you. Which is saying something. He doesn’t usually meet with anyone twice.”

“Oh.” Brie considered this. “I really don’t know what to say to that, Mr Lynn.”

“I don’t expect you to say anything, Ms Moreno. “

After the lawyer hung up, she had a shower and considered this. She had a dream about visiting the monster in the house and woke up with dirty socks and Mr Lynn arranged to correct her complaints about the state of the place. That was one hell of a coincidence. 

 


	11. Missing

Brie was almost done her shower when she noticed the weird scar on her ass was gone. She finished up and looked in the mirror. It was really gone. No red skin, no raised area, no sign that she had been cut badly enough to need stitches.

That was…. Weird.

It was inexplicable, really. She hadn’t done any kind of scar care or anything. How could it have…

No.

No. That was ridiculous.

Except now she needed to know.

The key was under the door mat as Mr Lynn had promised. Brie knocked hesitantly. This should wait until morning. Her dorky little flash light aside, hadn’t every horror movie she had ever seen taught her to never go into the creepy house alone? Especially after dark.

She knocked again and waited. Nothing. This was completely ridiculous. 

She unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Mr Herne?” she called. There was no answer. She turned on the flash light and looked for a light switch. She couldn’t find one. On the floor were her foot prints in the dust, headed up the stairs when Mr Lynn had brought her to visit. Only her foot prints, not his. Headed to the left were … she didn’t want to say hoof prints, but the marks of something walking the way the monster had taken her.

She should just leave.

“Mr Herne?”

She followed her foot prints up to the sitting room where she had waited. She knocked on the pocket doors, not really certain what she would say if there was an answer.

There wasn’t. She carefully pushed them open. Inside was a library full of old books. Legal books, several sets of encyclopedia, books on gardening and mushroom and she was avoiding looking too closely at the entire wall that seemed to be in latin. With one outlier. A green cloth cover with a single word title, Darkness.

She plucked that one off the shelf. There were some sort of mystic circles etched on the front cover and when she opened it, the writing seemed to swim before her eyes, as though it was fighting not to be read. She flipped a head and found a picture.

Of her nightmare demon.

“ **What are you doing here?** ”

Brie jumped, screamed a little, dropped the book and spun around to find Mr Herne standing there in a black pair of pyjama pants.

“I… I’m sorry!’ she blurted out and tried to run past him to leave.

He caught her easily, “ **Why are you here, Ms Moreno?** ”

She struggled back and away from him. “I didn’t come to steal!” she felt it was important to get that out, then realized how guilty it made her sound.

He was watching her. “ **I never suggested you were. Why are you here?”**

Brie tried to explain, “Yesterday…. I had a night mare about the house and … oh god!” Mr Herne flinched. “It… seemed so real. I just needed to see…” She trailed off uncertain how to continue.

“ **And was it?** ” he asked, sounding curious.

Brie felt completely ridiculous. She wanted to say, no, of course it wasn’t real. Except she couldn’t.

After a few moments, Mr Herne sighed, “ **C’mon. I’ll make us a cup of tea.** ” As he turned, she could see where his back was covered in scars. Stripes that looked like he had been whipped, a burn mark over one hip, and two deep gouges, one on each side of his spine.

Brie followed him to an old but functional kitchen and watched as he made a pot of camomile tea. He took a sip, made a face and got out a squeeze bottle of honey shaped like a bear. It was completely out of place in the kitchen. He offered it to her. She shook her head. He shrugged and set it on the counter.

He took a long drink of his tea then set the cup on the saucer and said, “ **Everyone has bad dreams, Brie. Not everyone breaks into someone else’s house in the middle of the night.** ”

Her head hurt. She was looking at Mr Herne, and something was wrong. It took her a moment to realize that the kitchen behind him was distorted like bad photoshop behind him. She looked away. The rest of the kitchen was fine. She looked back. His form sucked at her eyes, but as she tried to concentrate on the space behind him it looked… smushed.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her face, then panicked and snapped her eyes open. The monster had told her something. She hadn’t been paying attention. Something about his name.

“How tall are you Marbus Herne?”

“ **Nine feet, approximately, plus a couple of feet of horns** ,” he replied promptly. Then stiffened as though he hadn’t meant to say that.

Brie felt her already rapid heart rate jump even further. She was struggling to breath. This was wrong. It wasn’t possible it was-

The world went very white.

“ **Ms Moreno? Brie?** ”

The world went dark.

Darkness was pacing, his tail swishing angrily. He had the girl in his bed, but this was not how he had imagined getting her there. Calling Lynn had been no help. His advice was to dump her in the garden and pretend this never happened. That wasn’t going to happen. What if she died from exposure? Who would do the weeding and cook his supper? Honestly, the goblin needed to get his priorities right.

OK, so it was still late summer and it didn’t get that cold at night, but the grass was wet and what if she got sick? What if she woke up scared and couldn’t get back to her cottage in the dark? What if she tripped in a rabbit hole and broke her leg?

Fuck, his missed being able to blaspheme. He needed a higher power to curse right now. How had he ended up in this mess? See! This is why the damned fell back on wailing and gnashing of teeth! Sheer bloodly frustration at the injustice of the universe and -

Oh, shit. Was she awake?

“ **Brie?** ”

“What are you?”

A lie would be the easiest thing, but he had given her his true name. “ **I was a forrest god more than a thousand years ago. I am the guardian of The Great Tree. Now I am a refugee from days gone by.** ”

“What happened to your back?”

“ **Witch hunters. Demonologists. A very long time ago. I was bound to the property and can not leave. I spoke the truth about living in a refugee camp. It is just that I am still here.** ”

“You look like a human sometimes.”

“ **Sometimes,** ” Darkness agreed. “ **It takes energy to hide. It doesn’t work perfectly.** ”

“Have you been haunting me?”

Darkness considered his words carefully, “ **I have been guarding you since the attack. Talking to you in your sleep was a way to make sure you were safe.** ”

“You tried to kill the man who attacked me.”

“ **No,** ” he assured her. “ **If I wanted him dead, he would be. I wanted him to stop and never do that again to you or anyone else.** ”

Brie blanched and tried to sit up, the room swam around her.

“ **When was the last time you ate?** ”

“I had… no, you came for me before I ate breakfast. Then I was going to make toast but burned my hand instead. I guess it was the picnic last night.” Brie admitted.

“ **That was only half a sandwich -** ”

“I was out of chocolate,” Brie snapped. Then she hesitated, “Did you carve a symbol on my… back side?” Brie interrupted. “Only, it isn’t there anymore.”

Darkness rocked back on his heels, “ **It was my true name. It was an indication that you are under my protection. Lynn convinced me you wouldn’t appreciate it, so I healed the scar and took back my mark.** ”

“Isn’t that a bit like branding cattle?”

Darkness shook his head. “ **It was never like that. It is an honour to wear the mark of a god. Or at least it used to be. How did you burn your hand?** ”

Brie flopped back down and stared up at the ceiling. It had a mural. It was of an orgy. Of course it was. “How is this my life?” she asked no one in particular.

“ **Just lucky I guess.** ”

That was the final straw, Brie burst out laughing. She covered her face with her hands and laughed, then cried then got up to leave and was hit with another wave of light headedness. She managed to stay sitting up but had to ask, “Is this you?”

“ **This is not having eaten in more than twenty four hours.** ” He watched her for a moment. “ **I can send someone to fetch food from your cottage if you would allow it.** ”

Brie shook her head. “I just need to get home.”

“ **Did you find what you were looking for when you came here?** ”

“I… I don’t know. I never seen you when I am a reliable witness.”

Darkness considered this. He nodded to the goblin in the corner of the room, “ **Bring us a plate of fruit from the garden and a bottle of good wine from the cellar.** ”

Brie closed her eyes as the room started to spin. She opened them again when a plate bumped against her arm. The room was lit by candles, the fruit was all things she recognized. She tried a raspberry. It was perfect.

“Why no electric lights?”

Darkness snorted, it was a very impressive snort. “ **Have you ever heard of knob and tube wiring?** ” While she was eating her fruit, Darkness stabbed one claw into the cork of the wine bottle and pulled it free. He poured two crystal glasses and held one out to her.

Brie shook her head, “Sorry, but I am a lot more careful about what I drink these days.”

Darkness cocked his head, “ **It would have been easier to poison the fruit.** ”

Brie froze.

“ **I would not. I enjoy having you around too much to harm you or drive you off.** ”

Brie pulled a red apple slice off the plate and held it out for him. He did not take it with his fingers but rather leaned in sucked it from her fingers. Brie shivered. “Are you always this… way?”

Darkness considered this as he chewed, “ **It has been a long time since their were humans in this house.** ” He tactfully stopped before adding other than the occasionally trespasser, but free lunch doesn’t really count. Brie hesitantly went back to eating. Darkness tried again, “ **Tomorrow, there will be food for you here.** ”

Brie coughed, “What? Did you put on human skin and go grocery shopping?”

Darkness managed to look hurt, “ **No! I went online shopping. It will be delivered tomorrow.** ”

Brie considered this, “That raises so many questions. Like how does an ancient demon - um… elder god know what the internet is?”

Darkness laughed, “ **A hedonist utopia primarily used for the distribution of pornography? Who do you think invented that?** ”

Brie considered this, “A science boy with no chance of getting girls in real life.”

Darkness nodded, “ **Alight, that is true. But my kind assisted in the mass marketing and distribution.** ”

Brie finished chewing her apricot, “My next question should be fairly obvious. How do you get internet without electricity?’ Darkness just shrugged. Brie frowned, “You are going to say magic aren’t you?”

Darkness considered this, then once again went with honesty. “ **I contact Goblynn and he arranges it for me. And if you are done eating, I am taking you for a bath. Collapsing onto a dusty carpet isn’t the best idea.** ”

“I should just go back to my cottage.”

Darkness took a step back and waited.

Brie watched him for a moment, “I don’t understand you.”

“ **What is not to understand? I have done nothing with the intent to harm you.** ”

“Yeah. That’s what I don’t understand.”

Darkness said nothing, but offered her one of the wine glasses. This time, Brie took it.

\----

Big thank you to Jemchi on Discord for making the Cover of Darkness picture for me!

 


	12. The Hero

Brie was interesting at two in the morning. Even before the glass of wine kicked in and knocked her out she had been drunk on lack of sleep and lack of food.  Darkness caught the goblet before it hit the floor. There was a lot of dust on the floor. Or more specifically, there was a path through the dust to the bed.  That wasn’t good. Humans were fragile things. He had generally made it a policy not to get attached.

He was getting attached.

And she was right, the house was in no state to hold humans any more.  Still, the previous owners had furnished him with a small army of imps, in addition to the indigenous population of goblins.  And they were more than happy to do his bidding. He had long ago eaten the ones who were not. Still, when his issued the order to clean the house, there had been… not resistance, more like sullen hesitation.  Still, he insisted and there were enough of them that the house was tidy by morning. It would be spotless by tomorrow.

The resident metaphysical population, however, were not plumbers or electricians. There was asbestos in the walls, which was likely the only thing keeping the wiring from burning the house down.  And he was pretty sure that lead pipes where no longer en vogue. Most of the single pane windows let in the damp. After Brie mentioned black mould, he had asked Goblynn about it. Apparently it was a bad thing.  The house had an abundance. There was also a good chance that the once expensive green wallpaper was full of cyanide.

In truth, upon taking Brie back to her cottage that afternoon, he had learned that if he was wanting to keep a pet, this house was the last place Darkness should be bringing her.  And just when arrangements had begun to correct that, she had let herself in.

He wondered about that.  What had happened to prompt his gardener to let herself into the house?  Goblynn had been clear when he hired her that even looking too hard at the house was a firing offence.   She hadn’t seemed pleased when her brought her here that morning. Why return on her own after dark? And why the library?  She had gone straight for the book the original builder of the house had written about him. Had she known to look for it? Or had she just gotten lucky?

In all the time he had spent invading her dreams, he had never thought to check for demonologist inclinations.  Was that even still a hobby for people? She was in no state for him to go looking now. Not completely exhausted and half starved as she was.  He liked the way she looked in his bed. Small. Relaxed. Completely vulnerable. He didn’t quite understand the Shark Week slogan on her sleeveless shirt, but he appreciated the simulated arterial spray and the way her nipples were faintly visible through the thin fabric.

The imps were back having stolen coffee and croissants from the town.  Time to go make breakfast for his pet.

Maybe if he fed her, she would stick around for a while.

Brie woke up with the sun shining on her face.  This was not unusual. The bed was. She scrambled up into a sitting position and looked around.  Her kick on garden shoes were placed neatly next to the huge bed.  Light was streaming in through the window.   She recognized the room and was slightly horrified to be here. What had she been thinking? Breaking into Mr Herne’s house just because she had misplaced a scar sounded ridiculous in the cold light of day.  But it was still confusing being here. She had only ever seen this part of the house while hallucinating monsters. Still, the creepy room sparked a brief moment of panic as she wondered if she were locked in V.C. Andrews style.

To her relief, the door opened smoothly.  She hurried out of the room and found away down and hopefully out of the building.  Mr Herne was waiting for her in a room off the main floor hall. He looked imposing in black trainers, black sweats and a black hoodie worn up to shadow most of his face.

“I am so, so sorry.  I don’t know what… I was thinking.  I shouldn’t be-”

“ **I will care for you anytime you come here seeking refuge.  You can depend on that. You are my responsibility here.** ”

“I-”  Brie stopped.  She wasn’t sure what to say to that.  She went with, “Thank you.”

Marbus Herne nodded, “ **You are truly welcome, Gabriella Moreno.** ”

“You can call me Brie.  Everyone does.”

There was something in the way he watched her just a little too intently.  Brie shivered.

“ **You persist in calling me Mr Herne.** ”

Brie struggled with that, she was appalled she had broken into this man’s house.  He had no right to go being all civil and polite about it. He should be saying something like, ‘pack your things and be off the property by noon.’   She needed to know. She didn’t want to ask, but she needed to know, “Am I fired, Mr Herne?”

He blinked, then laughed, “ **No, Ms Moreno, I was rather hoping you would allow me to feed you breakfast.** ”

Brie felt skeptical and it must have shown on her face because Marbus gestured to the room behind him.

“ **There is coffee and croissants and fresh made jam.  Please, help yourself.** ”

The table was small and only set for one.  There was a french press of coffee, two small cartons, one for milk and one for full fat cream.  There was a little pot of honey and a glass bowl of raspberry jam, and a tiny crystal butter dish, just big enough for a small pat of butter.

“Are you having breakfast, Mr H- um, Marbus?”

He winced like the question pained him, “ **No, I’m afraid I am going to work in my office.  The house is yours, Brie.** ”

Brie looked at the table and when she turned back to where he had been standing, Marbus Herne was gone.  Really the only word for it was creepy. Still, the coffee was excellent. The jam was the best she had ever tasted and the croissants were obviously the ones from the bakery in town.  She ate breakfast, then gathered her dishes and was able to find the kitchen.  Maybe it was just the better light from the east, but the house seemed cleaner than she remembered. Their tea cups from last night were still in the sink. There wasn’t any dish soap.

Well, he hadn’t fired her yet, she could just run down to her cottage and pick up some soap and hurry back to wash the dishes. It was the least she could do.  

She opened the door just as someone was about to knock. The man had been holding the door knocker. Brie pulling the door open caused him to stumble into the house. Brie gaped at him, he stared at her before wrenching his gaze upwards. Brie blushed as she remembered she wasn’t wearing a bra. And again when she remembered she was still in her shark week t-shirt.

She coughed and said, “Can I help you?”

The man blinked. He was about six three, built like a brick shit house with a neatly trimmed beard and a tidy blond crew cut. “I, uh, Mr Lynn told me to meet the grounds keeper here.”

Brie nodded, “Yeah, that’s me. There was just-” she stopped, honestly having no idea how to explain her appearance. “I’m supposed to let you in. Is there anything else you need?”

“No. I’ll just do the house inspection and let you know when I’m done.”

Brie nodded. “Mr Herne is in his office, and I honestly don’t know where that is. I need to go get dish soap, but I will be weeding in the yard after I get the dishes washed.”

The man blinked. “I’m Mitchell. Are you the house keeper?”

“The grounds keeper, actually, but I sometimes bring Mr Herne food.” There. That sounded completely respectable. “I’m Brie, by the way.”

Mitchell held out a big, warm and slightly calloused hand. Brie shook it. He was doing a reasonably good job of maintaining eye contact. “See you later,” she said as she slid past him. She was about half way down the walk when she glanced back over her shoulder and caught him staring at her ass. He noticed and headed inside, closing the door behind him. As he turned, Brie returned the favour. He wore those slightly grubby jeans really well. 

Brie had been out in the sun for a while. She had sweat running down her back and between her breasts. She sat up and wiped her forehead before taking off her hat and fanning herself with it. As she took a swig of water from her thermos. As she glanced back towards the house, she saw Mitchell leaning against one of the walls, his shirt off, his perfectly sculpted chest on full display.  

The way he was watching her made Brie blush. As she turned her head to look away, just for a moment, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her demon watching her from one of the windows. When she looked back it was Marbus Herne.  

“How is this my life?” she muttered to herself as she put down the thermos and went back to weeding.

The contractor was there all day. He paused for lunch and asked Brie about the local pub. She told him it was excellent but declined to join him there. Then got somewhat angry when he tried to insist.

She was eating her lunch on the bench in the porn orchard when a familiar voice behind her asked, “ **Why not join him for lunch?** ”

Looking straight ahead, Brie shrugged, “Not really interested.”

“ **He seemed interested.** ”

“Yeah, but I’m still having nightmares after…” she trailed off. “I’m not interested.”

“ **Is that why you came to the house last night?** ” When she didn’t respond, Marbus added, “ **Because of nightmares?** ”

Brie still hadn’t turned to look at him, so he couldn’t see her face when he asked that. Given that she had a moment where she wanted to cry, it was probably just as well. “Something like that.”

She sat unmoving for a moment.  

“ **Is there anything I can do to help?** ”

Brie thought about that. “Join me for lunch?” she suggested, still not turning to look at him.

Marbus Herne walked over and sat on the bench with his back to hers. Brie leaned back against him and slid her half sandwich in his direction.


	13. Temptation

Darkness was a little afraid to even ask the question, but he needed to know, “ **Why did you decide to start feeding me?** ”

Brie hesitated, “It’s easier to cook for two and … well, I get lonely.  I thought …” She trailed off for a moment, then rallied, “I never see food delivered. Living off shelf stable pantry items is possible, but it gets boring after a while. And I don’t mind cooking.”

Marbus considered this, “ **I never learned to cook,** ” he confessed.

Brie snorted, “Yeah.  My momma was like that too.  My brother, Iggy, never learned to cook because Real Men Eat Take Out.  Or, I don’t even know how she thought that was going to work. We grew up with me helping cook and my dad and Iggy washing the dishes.  Then he moved out and I had to teach him. My bolognese is from scratch. It was the first thing he cooked for his wife. She was impressed.”

“ **What is bolognese?** ”

Brie twitched, but narrowly avoided turning around, “You’re joking, right?”

“ **I am not.** ”

“Bolognese sauce?  It’s tomato sauce? As in ‘spag bol’?  Spaghetti bolognese?”

Marbus hesitated, before tentatively suggesting, “ **Like the noodles in tomato sauce you made the first night you brought me food?** ”

‘Yeah, dude, exactly that.”

“ **I had never eaten that before.** ”

Brie was about ready to call bullshit on that, then she remembered - refugee camp. “Oh.  Well, what did you think?”

Darkness wasn’t sure how to describe the flavour of her gift.  He went with an honest, “ **It was the best thing I have had in a very long time.** ”  He thought some more, “ **I can completely believe your brother used that to seduce his wife.** ”

Brie choked, had a momentary coughing fit, then laughed.

“ **Are you alright?** ”

“Um hm,” Brie mumbled, taking a swig of her tea.

“ **Humans are such badly designed creatures.  I would not have put the air intake and the food intake in the same place.** ”

Brie nodded, “One among many complaints.”

Marbus wondered, “ **Oh? What are your complaints?** ”

Brie shrugged, “The usual.  It is too easy to get a UTI.  We crave the foods that are the worst for us.  We can’t scratch that really itchy spot in the middle of our backs.”

Marbus hummed his agreement, but added, “ **I believe that last one is to encourage social grooming.** ”  He thought for a moment. “ **Was that a hint you need your back scratched?** ” he asked as he turned toward her.

Brie laughed and was about to shrug it off when careful fingers began scratching perfectly between her shoulder blades.  It was... Perfect. The right amount of pressure, the right speed and somehow the exact right spot. “Hmmmm, that’s nice.”  It was out past her brain mouth filter before she knew what was happening. She immediately tensed, “I am so sorry! I’m supposed to be raking in here, not taking advantage of- Oh my god!  I need to stop talking now.” She stood up and rushed to gather up the remains of her lunch.

“ **Have I upset you?** ”

“No!  I just shouldn’t be -” she stopped abruptly.

“ **What?** ”

Brie hesitated.  “I get the feeling that Mr Lynn would fire me if he knew we had lunch together, nevermind… everything else.”

“ **Breaking in at midnight everything else?  Or letting me scratch your back everything else?** ”

That made her freeze. “I am SO fired!” she groaned.

“ **Well, if you are sure of that, you might as well enjoy the time you have left out here.** ”

Brie spun, wild eyed and stared at Marbus standing only feet away on the other side of the bench.  “Can we have dinner? I mean, proper dinner? Like in the pub or something?” She saw the panic in his eyes and looked down.  “Right! Just… forget I-”

“ **What if I organize dinner in the house?** ”

Brie looked up at him, “That would be nice.”  She smiled shyly, leaned forward, kissed his cheek, then spun and ran away.

Marbus Herne touched his cheek, but it was Darkness that realized he was in trouble.

At the end of the day, Mitchell tracked Brie down to return the key.  He hadn’t bothered to put his shirt back on.  

“Cheaper to bulldoze and start over,” he mentioned.

Brie nodded, “Not my call.”

“Huh.  I’ll get you the quote in a couple of days.”  Then he paused, “What’s the owner like?”

“He enjoys his privacy.”

“Yeah?  You have breakfast with him often?”

Brie tensed, “I also enjoy my privacy.”

“Ah!  My apologies.  Do you like the chauffeur’s cottage?  I did the reno on it.”

Brie blinked, “Yeah, I do.  When was that?”

Mitchell shrugged, “This spring.  I thought it was a big job. Took my crew the better part of a month.  But it had nothing on this dump.”

Brie was rather more offended by that than she should be.  “Are you updating or restoring?”

“I’m quoting each room separately.  Each room is being quoted for each option.” Mitchell rubbed the back of his neck.  “Don’t get me wrong, there is some nice mill work in there. It will just take a shit ton of work to save it.”  He thought for a moment, before adding, “Your place was like that too. New kitchen, but a restore on the rest. That lawyer had very definite ideas about what he wants.”

Brie smiled at that.  “Yeah. And god forbid you need to corrected his perceptions.”

Mitchell chuckled at that.  “You should try explaining wiring codes to him.”

Brie grinned and laughed, “He was surprised that this much lawn would need a tractor.”

“No!  What… He thought push mower?”

Brie shrugged, “I think he just hadn’t considered how it would work.”

Mitchell just shook his head.    Then he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, “Well, If you are sure I can’t talk you into going for a drink…”  he just let the sentence trail off.

“I’m sure.” Brie said with a smile.

“Maybe next time?” he pushed.

Brie felt her smile stiffen.  “We’ll see.” It was ‘no, not if you are going to push me,’ but she wasn’t going to say that given how he was making a show of being bigger than her.    She realized she preferred Mr Herne’s - Marbus’s - lean swimmer look. She had no reason to be uncomfortable around Mitchell, but she was.

He didn’t notice.  Instead he grinned down at her and said, “I’ll see you next time, then!” as though she had just agreed to something.

Brie watched him leave, the threw down her trowel and got up.  She watched him drive away, then headed back to her cottage.  Something about him made her want to change her locks. In the mean time, she needed to shower.

It was in the shower, trying to scrub the dirt out from underneath her fingernails that she realized she was no different than Mitchell. She had flirted with and even kissed Marbus. Mr Herne. He hadn’t said yes. Suddenly she felt sick. She had broken into his house, and he had kept her fed and safe. And why? Because she thought her dream demon, her nightmare monster might be in the house. For fucks sake! Who actually thought like that?

This place, the isolation was getting to her She needed to do something. She phoned her boss.

Goblynn wasn’t actually human shaped when he was checking his emails that night. He was surprised to have one from Ms Moreno. He read it.  

He read it again.

Oh dear. Lord Darkness wasn’t going to like that.

“ **She what?!** ”

“She is asking for time off, lord. While the renovations are underway. She is expecting you to be away and is asking if she could have some time off to visit her family.”

“ **You will deny her request,** ” Darkness snapped. “ **Besides she had weeks off after -** ”

“Being hospitalized doesn’t count as time off, Lord.”

“ **I require her presence**.”

Goblynn was aware his master was being unreasonable. He knew better than to argue, so he changed tactics instead. “Of course, Lord.  You need her here.”

“ **Yes!** ”

“Working on your gardens.”

“ **Yes!** ” this was said with a leer.

“Getting all hot and sweaty.”

“ **By the gods, yes!** ”

“Around all those muscular and virile young construction workers.”

“ **Ye - wait, what?** ”

“Who will also be hot and sweaty.”

“ **Just hold on a minute now -** ”

“And going around with their shirts off. Their perfect, human skin on full display.”

“ **That isn’t funny.** ”

“Of course not, Lord. I’m sure they will be merely polite when they eat lunch together-”

“ **Of course.** ”

“- in the (what was it she called it?) porn orchard. Maybe go out for drinks after a long day’s work.”

Darkness glared at him. Goblynn shrugged.

“ **She is mine.** ”

“Not really. You haven’t even asked her out to dinner yet. And I’m not sure carving your true name into her ass counts as a date.”

“ **I did heal that, you know,** ” Darkness sulked.

Goblynn tensed. It was horribly wrong to see a massive demon having a snit like a human toddler, but beyond that- “What did she say when she noticed it was healed?”

“ **She asked, ‘how is this my life?’** ”

“Oh dear.” He thought about that. “If you want to date her, you need to get on with it. Otherwise you need to let this one go.”

“ **Or kidnap her and lock her in the basement.** ” Darkness suggested.

Goblynn shook his head. “That won’t work. Renovations start on Monday.”

“ **Right**.” They stared at each other for a moment. Neither of them laughed. “ **I should have had the house repaired before we hired her. She could have just moved in with me.** ”

Goblynn shook her head. “Ms Moreno’s family would not have agreed to that and I believe she highly values their opinions.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make the writing go.


	14. Revelations

Brie picked up her fork and knife and cut a bit of pizza from the slice on her plate.  The local pizzeria wasn’t this good. The crust was thin and crisp, the tomato sauce tasted fresh, even the cheese was amazing.  She was afraid to ask where it came from in case he had brought it from Italy via hell or something. She flinched with guilt, she knew that was being unfair.  Still, “If you are real, what about heaven and hell and all those other stories?”

Marbus blinked, “ **Think of them as… neighbouring dimensions.  Hell as depicted by Hieronymus Bosch is not accurate.  The stories of the battle between good and evil was early man trying to explain people from other dimensions, then propaganda from priests of the winners set in.** ”  

“That sounds like there was a battle,” Brie mused, “if there were winners.”

“ **Oh yes, there were winners and there were certainly losers.   You have seen my back. Even in disguise I can’t hide that.** ”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“ **Once Earth was big enough for all of us.  We all had our own little kingdoms. We each had our own little tribe of humans to care for.** ” And feed on, but she didn’t need to know that. “ **Then some of us got greedy.  They had children and needed to expand their empire to find homes for them.  Once they started, it became a fight. Everyone for themselves. They sent their humans to find and destroy us.  That explains almost any holy war you care to name. The Romans marched right to my tree before their gods turned on each other and their empire collapsed under its own weight.  By the time they left they had killed the tribe of people I was swore to protect. So when the Christians came, I was no enough of a threat to bother destroying. But I do not look like their shining demi god.  I was an easy target for would be saints to call up to frighten their followers. I would be flogged or burned or carved on and the local vicar would accuse his enemies of devil worship and firm up his control on the community.”**

Here he pause and gave a bitter laugh, “ **You would be surprised how much ‘casting out demons’ looks like a bully telling his victim to get out of here.** ”

Now Brie looked up, “How can you see yourself as a victim when you can … gut people?”

“ **The iron fence around the property is a boundary line.  If I cross it, there are people who would hunt me even now.** ”

“You don’t think that sounds a little paranoid?” Brie asked, helping herself to a third slice of pizza.

“ **You think it is a coincidence that the local pub is called ‘A Wing and A Prayer,’ all of the staff are one family, they all have angelic names, the pictures on the walls date back up to a hundred years and feature the exact same staff that is currently working there? We live a long time and an angel is just someone who is one quarter elder god.  I had wings at one point too.** ”

“That can’t be right.”

Marbus just strugged, “ **You said Tabby was still there.  Her full name is Tabbris: Angel of self-determination.  Which is rich, since she is preventing me from having self determination.  Next time you are in the pub, look at the pictures on the walls. I mean really look.  Humans don’t pay attention to things they know can’t be real.** ”

Brie looked him in the eye,  “That doesn’t sound real.”

Marbus nodded, “ **Yes, just like that.  You say that, then you don’t bother to check.  Be careful with them, Brie. As much as they like to advertise themselves as guardians, they will not interfere in human lives.  None of them lifted a hand to help you when you were drugged in their establishment.** ”

“Tabby didn’t like me working for you.  She kept encouraging me to quit and move away to go to school.”

“ **They don’t want you to feed me.** ”

“No, this was before I started bringing you meals.”

“ **You were already giving me your attention when you tended my gardens and brought life back to my lands.** ”

Brie blinked.  “I’m well fed; it isn’t too late; I have only sipped the wine.  I want to see you change.”

Marbus looked at the ground.  “ **You will leave.** ”

“Is it worse that the andiron that stuck out its tongue at me?  Or the naked goblin that brought more wine?”

“ **I need to take off the suit.** ”

Brie frowned, “The suit keeps you from changing?”

“ **Ha!  No, the suit was expensive and I only just got it.  Goblynn will be irritated if I shred it so soon. He is good at making my life difficult when he is annoyed.** ”

Brie laughed.

Marbus carefully folded his clothes and placed them on the chair, when he was down to his shorts, he looked at Brie.  “ **If I do this, I won’t have the energy to change back for a while.  Are you sure you want to see?** ”

“I think I need to see.”

Marbus hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts and bent forward to take them off, falling into what was basically the crouch start like a runner in a race.  He took a couple of quick, panting breaths as though he were preparing to clean and jerk. Then, with a scream, he pushed his back away from his hands and feet on the ground.  The skin down his back split like a tomato over the fire and the red skin of the demon from her dreams burst out of him The wind whipped up and blew out all the candles. The screaming continued, but subtly shifted to a roar and the body of Marbus Herne was forced to turn inside out and the monstrous form of Darkness stepped out to tower, panting, over Brie.  She stared up at him, eyes wide, afraid to blink. Darkness bend forward, his arms and horns around her, caging her against the table.

“ **And this is the part where people run screaming and never come back,** ” he gasped.  His voice held not a threat, only sadness.

Brie reached out and put her palm against the warm skin of his chest.  “Magic mushrooms on the pizza,” she suggested.

“ **There weren’t any mushrooms on the pizza.** ”

“Oh, right.”  She shivered then said, “It’s getting cold and you won’t fit in my cottage.”

“ **And you were planning on leaving anyway.  This is the part where I go home and you go back to your cottage and are gone by morning, isn’t it?** ”

“It could be.  Or it could be the part where you take me back to your house and let me sit by the fire as your andirons make rude gestures that I will try to ignore.”  The look he gave her had Brie hastening to add, “You aren’t getting lucky. This isn’t a sleepover. All I’m suggesting is that we continue this conversation inside.”

“ **I don’t know.  That still makes me feel pretty lucky.** ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there will be smut at some point


	15. Seduction

Brie may have started out sitting on the hearth in the house of Darkness. She sat and listened to stories of the people who had lived here before. Darkness sat next to her as he told her about what it was like when the land was ruled by hunter gatherers. Then about the standing stones that had been brought to mark his home next to the tree.

She was snuggled in his arms as he told her that the house had been built around those standing stones. “ **You can still see them in the walls. The house is a maze. Part of that is the insanity of the architect but most of it is the requirement to include all of the stones.** ”

Darkness was warm and gentle and had abs that made her want to lick them. She blushed at the thought. Then mentally added caramel sauce to the picture and shifted uneasily before changing the subject. “This fireplace seems older than the house. How does that work?” When he didn’t respond, Brie looked up at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

His nostrils flared. Then in that deep, dark, panty melting voice the demon sitting next to her, looking down at her, looking so intently into her eyes that she could believe he was peering into her soul, spoke. “ **You smell delicious. What do I need to say so that you will offer me a taste?** ”

Brie’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t even touched her and she felt so keyed up that she ached. “You….” It came out in a squeak. She had to swallow and try again. “You are very scary looking just now, Marbus.”

“ **You asked to see me, Brie. Can I see you?** ”

Brie closed her eyes and started to tremble. She felt the warmth that poured off of him leave her before she heard the first hoof step a few feet away. Her eyes snapped open. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. “ **I am not holding you against your will. You are free to leave. Or stay. As you wish.** ”

“You are offended.”

“ **I am hopeful. I did not bring you here. You invited yourself into my home. I have not touched you. I have been nothing but polite. I am hopeful that one day, I will not be so frightening that you squeak like a mouse when I crave you. For now, I have asked too much and I am sorry that I am still very scary looking. I will not crowd you if you need your space.** ”

Brie tried to read a face that wasn’t quite human. She remembered Mitchell not really accepting her refusal to join him for lunch. And the way he has stomped off in a huff when she had more firmly refused. There wasn’t the same sulky toddler look on Marbus’s face, just calm acceptance. “I’m not sure I’m ready to be naked for anyone.” She said it quietly, tentatively.

“ **Of course.** ”

There was a long moment of awkward silence, where Brie looked down at her hands clenched in her lap.

“ **Do you need me to stop blocking the door?** ”

She shook her head, no.

He still didn’t say anything.

Was he waiting for her to speak?

She looked up at him. He was still just watching her patiently.

“Can you tell me about the fireplace?”

He stepped away from the door and pulled a chair out from the end of the table. Not even a chair, it was big enough to hold him. Almost a wooden throne.  

“ **It is all that is left from the first house built here in 1520 or so.** ” He chuckled darkly. “ **The lord who built it disregarded the warnings that this land was already occupied.** ”

Brie’s eyes went wide. “What happened to him?”

Marbus blinked. “ **He left.** ”

“Still alive? I mean with all of his guts still inside his body?”

The was a secretive smile on his face as Darkness replied, “ **Yes.** ” Marbus recognized the need for discretion and did not mention that the lord’s young wife had stayed. It had been a few very good decades.

“What did you do to him? What aren’t you telling me?”

Damn. “ **I did nothing to him. He left on his own, unharmed. Some of his household remained, voluntarily, and kept me company for a time. Human come and go but mostly do not stay very long. It is … a pleasing break in the solitude when they stay for a while.** ”

“That is why I am here? To provide a distraction?”

“ **I was not looking for a distraction. All I needed was someone to tend to the grounds. But you kindness to me as been a pleasant side effect. It has been generations since anyone had spoken to me while I was in this form.** ”

He sounded small and sad. It was inconsistent with the image of a demon lord on his throne. He was no longer watching her, but staring at the window, lost in his memories. It would be the perfect time to sneak out. Brie stood up. Darkness closed his eyes. Brie hesitated.

“ **Thank you for your company this evening. I have enjoyed out conversations. I hope I have this opportunity -** ” The rest of his sentence was cut off as Brie climbed into his lap. Darkness tightened his grip on the arms of his chair rather than touch her uninvited.

She watched the muscles stand out on his arms. “It this OK?” She watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

“ **I will not harm you, Brie.** ” It was said simply, with a calmness that belied the tension on his face.

There was a strange power in that. “If I kissed you, would you be able to still hold onto the chair?”

Now his eyes snapped open, he gazed down at her, his cat like pupils blown wide open. “ **If that is what you desire.** ”

Brie nodded and shifted so that she was straddling one massive thigh. She arched her back then realized she was still too short and took hold of his horns to pull his head down so that she could reach his lips. She spent a moment tentatively kissing his lips. When she stopped and leaned away for him he sighed, “That was nice, thank you.”

She rested her head and against his chest and listened to his slow even heartbeat. “I remember you tasting me. Licking me until I was begging you to let me cum. You said no.”

“ **That was very unkind. In my defence, I didn’t want it to end.** ”

Brie nodded. She put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him again. Harder this time, licking at his lips with her tongue. Sucking at his forked one and it slipped between her lips. She ground against his thigh until she felt something nudge against her belly. She pulled back. His hands were still clenching the arm rests of his chair, but more than a foot of long, hard, flared cock was bumping against her, just north of her bellybutton.

“ **Would you like me to make it up to you or are you looking to get even?** ”

She shifted uncomfortable with that idea. She had no idea what she was doing, but the need for revenge was not what she was feeling right now. “I don’t know.”

“ **Hmmm… Why don’t you take me to bed and ride my face until you have accomplished both?** ”

Blushing hugely, Brie climbed off of his lap, only to find herself suddenly cage between two huge arms, those lickable abs and the table behind her. He still wasn’t touching her, but she was startled enough to look sharply up at him.

“ **You left a wet spot on my leg. We both know how badly you want this.** ”

“I still get to say no.”

Darkness roared in frustration, making Brie jump, then stepped back so fast the huge chair tipped over and crashed onto the marble floor. “ **Yes. You do.** ”

Brie blinked. “Is this a trap?”

“ **No.** ”  

And with that, he wrapped a huge hand around his massive cock and turned away from her.  Brie waited, expecting him to start jerking off, but he just stood there, his back to her, his head bowed.

“Are you going to tell me to leave?”

“ **No.** ”

“Why?”

“ **What if you didn’t come back?** ”

Brie thought about that. The furniture was scaled to fit him. The table was a jump to and a struggle to get her self seated on the edge. Once she got herself sorted out, she realized Darkness was watching her over his shoulder. She unbuttoned her jeans and awkwardly wiggled out of them.

“ **You did warn me I wasn’t getting lucky tonight.** ”

“You aren’t.”

“ **Are you?** ”

Brie laughed. “Need me to wait here for a moment while you leave the room briefly?”

Darkness came over and knelt between her legs. “ **I am really good at multitasking.** ”

Brie looked down at him. “I am going to regret this.”

“ **I hope not.** ”

The look he was giving her alone was enough to make her breath catch in her throat. “How good are you at stopping if I change my mind?”

“ **It isn’t my favourite thing, but you won’t be able to edge me to my breaking point.** ”

“OK. Let’s see how this goes.” Brie braced herself for his mouth to dart forward, but she wasn’t expecting his target to be her lips. He kept his hands on the edge of the table and kissed her deeply. Brie closed her eyes and cupped the back of his neck. It was odd given the thickness of his neck and the placement of his horns. She stroked the back of his head.

When he pulled away she stumbled forward a bit, chasing the sensation. He caught her before she fell off the table. As he sat her ass back down, he caught the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head, making a little moan of appreciation as he took in what was beneath it.

“ **You are glorious.** ” He leaned in and sniffed up her body, navel to neck. “ **Do you always wear matching underwear?”**

Brie nodded, “Most of the time, anyway.”

“ **I promise to replace these.** ”

Brie didn’t have a moment to understand what he meant before he ran a finger down her breast bone and over her bra. There was the sound of tearing fabric and her bra popped open. Marbus groaned and leaned forward to lave at her breast with that long, black, forked tongue.

“Oh god,” she whispered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please. 
> 
> There will be a new Tuesday story starting soon. You can always watch my [Tumblr](https://pixie-unger.tumblr.com) for details.


	16. Cry for Help

Darkness realized as soon as she opened the door to her cottage that this was a mistake. The look on her face clearly said that she wasn’t expecting him. Then he had to send her back inside because he forgot that humans like eating off of plates.

He had drunk more than his fair share of the wine and the goblin who brought more wasn’t polite about it.

Then she called him the devil and he was ready to just go. He knew he had lost her. He felt sick when he realized she was asking if he had raped her.  He didn’t want her to see him as that kind of monster. He tried to explain about the war, not really certain that a human could fully understand the concept of war between two nearly undying armies. Yes, he was on the losing side, but he had conducted himself with honour. He always played by the rules. Nonetheless he had suffered at the hands of the victors.

It was one thing for her to see each of his forms in turn. He wasn’t prepared for her to ask to see him change. He stalled for as long as he could, knowing that this was the end. Knowing that once she was faced with the undeniable reality of what he was he would never see her again.

She hadn’t screamed.

She hadn’t run.

No, she was sitting, naked, on his table, her body positively dripping as he kissed and sucked on her skin. Fear in humans was odd like that. Some ran, some fought, some passed out.

And for some fear was wired directly to their libido.

He was prepared to accept that. Right up until he was licking her breast and she gasped, “Oh god!” Her praise poured into him, filling him with her light. His breath caught and he nearly spilled right there. He hesitated. The right thing to do would be to ask if she was OK. If this was still OK.

Instead, he kissed his way down her belly, hooking his fingers into her panties and shredding them as well.

“Y **ou smell like heaven.** ” He leaned in and gave her a long, slow lick. She came on his tongue. “ **And you taste like sin.** ” Her legs were shaking and he hadn’t even slid his tongue inside yet.

She screamed when he did. He fucked her with his tongue, using the length and the fork to his advantage, ignoring the little bursts of sweet as her body sought to reward his seed for her pleasure. He ignored the writhing, the moaning, he was chasing something something better than her pleasure. He was eating his way to her heart.

Please her, worship her, that she might worship him in return. Feed on her lust, her need, the little cries and gasps as he found her g-spot with his tongue. The litany of “please!” as she begged, him over and over again. And he answered her prayers, until every nerve in her body was alight, twitching and clenching with pleasure. Until he could see it sparking through her body, her senses aflame.

Then, as she gasped and whimpered and pulled away, he caught her briefly by the throat before stroked his hand down her body. 

“ **Will you sleep in my bed? I’m afraid I can’t put you back in your cottage tonight.** ”

The girl nodded, still panting too hard to form words. Her thighs were still shaking as her carried her up to his room and lay her on his bed.

In his human form, Marbus had been the subject of much art, most notably the time both of the Geefs brothers had sought to render his likeness. He was objectively good looking. Watching Brie curl on to her side, a satisfied smile on her lips, she was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time.

Not perfect, but maybe perfect for him.

\----

For the second time in as many days, Brie woke up, disoriented in Marbus Herne’s bed. She stared at the ceiling. “What was I doing?”

“ **Allowing me to enjoy your company.** ”

Brie jumped. He was sitting naked on the bed next to her, looking human. The claw marks on his face were less noticeable. She looked at him thoughtfully.

Marbus sighed. “ **This is where you are going to say something like, ‘this can’t be real,’ isn’t it?** ”

Brie considered this. “I don’t know.” She looked at her watch. “It's six am.  I should go get some breakfast.”

Marbus nodded slowly. “ **Coffee and toast is on it’s way up. You don’t have to run off if you are comfortable staying.** ”

She looked at him. “If I touch you while you look like this, will I feel your other form?”

Marbus reached out, took her hand and pressed it agains his chest. Brie sat up and ran her hands over him. What she felt under her hands matched what she was seeing. Impulsively, she leaned in and kissed his mouth. Marbus kissed her back, sucking gently at her lips.

“I should get dressed before breakfast.”

Marbus shrugged, “ **Unless you are willing to let me eat you for breakfast?** ”

Brie froze as her brain shorted out.

“ **Did I not please you last night? If not, I especially want the chance to try again.** ”

\----

When Brie eventually made it out of bed, she put on her clothes from last night and made it back to her cottage before the contractors arrived. She cleaned up, wrote up a grocery list and headed into Morningside.  

She ran all her errands and was ready to head home when she caught sight of The Wing and a Prayer. 

Huh.

Well, she could get some lunch and subtly check out the pictures.

Instead of heading to the bar, Brie took a booth. It was still early enough that she was one of the first people through the door. It was just her and the serious alcoholics. She looked at the pictures. Sure enough, she recognized the bar staff in all of them. In different period settings. They could just be dressed up for the pictures. Except that kid looked like he had grown into old Mister Aldrich and Tabby standing next to him was either the best damn photoshop she had seen outside the movies or-

“What can I get for you love?”

Brie jumped and spun around tipping over the salt shaker with her elbow. “Whoops!” She looked up at Tabby and said, “Well, damn-” the woman flinched, “-that’s bad luck.” She picked up a pinch of salt and tossed it over her shoulder.

The world went white.

Brie woke up in her car. Her head was pounding. She undid her seat belt and got out. The town square swirled around her. It was like being drugged again. “What the hell?”

Mitchel ran over. “Are you OK? I hear the restaurant is closed due to a meat recall. You didn’t eat there did you? Do you need a hospital?”

Brie stared at him and tried to concentrate. She dug in her purse and pulled out her phone. She stared at it. There was something she needed to do. Some one…

“Brie? Do you need me to take you back to your cottage?”

“No! I need to call Mr Lynn.”

“Oh. Okay. I can do that.”

Mitchell pulled out his phone.

Brie managed to get her fingers to work. Her employer was in her favourites list. She had found the perfect icon for him.  

“G.B. Lynn and associates, how may I direct your call?”

“Help. Please.”

“One moment please.”

Brie blinked. Mr Lynn came out of no where and caught Brie as she started to slump to the side. He guided her easily into the passenger seat of her car. He got into the driver’s seat. He made a motion like he was turning the ignition, but he didn’t have any keys.

The car started and he drove her back to the cottage.

\----

They were all standing in the pub, trying to figure out what to do next. The whole blessed family.

“Are you trying to restart the war?” Michael snarled. He had burned through his human appearance as soon as Tabby said she had glammed Brie.

“She used words of power and threw salt at me!”

“So LEAVE! Do Not Shut down the pub because some little bint, spilled a little salt!” Charmeine screeched.

“She has been feeding him! And that forsaken tree!”

“Brie is a Good Person.” Michael said slowly. “She has one of us in her blood line.”

“How do you know that?”Charmeine asked

“I researched her when she arrived. Even her name, Gabriella, is one of ours.” Micheal replied. He sighed and ran a hand over his flaming face. “I had hoped the rapist would run her off before she started feeding him. It should have worked.”

Tabby, cleared her throat. “I’ve never been able to use glamour on her before. It never worked. That’s why I put a bit of weight into it.”

Michael narrowed his eyes, “You nearly killed her.”

“Well,” Charmeine suggested, “That would have solved the problem.”

They all stared at her, but it was Gabe who snarled, “Holy wars have been started by one side attacking the beloved of another. Even those who would not side with Darkness with would still use the excuse to turn on us.”

“So what are we going to do?” Rafe asked.

Michael considered this. “We ignore her. He has not left his lands. She has done nothing, can DO nothing to harm us. We continue our non interference.”

Manny had been watch out the window, “Jesu! The goblin is here to take her home!”

Tabby ran over to peer out, “How did he find out about this so fast?”

“It isn’t the 20th century anymore, Tabbris,” Charmeine snapped. “You don’t have to find a phone or mail a letter to call for help. If you had killed her, they would have being able to track her phone back to us. You need to think these days, not just react.”

They all watched her call pull away.

There was a few moments of ringing silence before Michael asked Tabby, “How much do you think she will remember?”

“I don’t know. I also don’t know what has changed in the last couple of days that she went from being magic resistant to vulnerable again.”

They thought about that for a moment.

Then the imps arrived.

Hundreds of them in the shape of rats poured up from the cellar.

The heavenly host huddled together and frantically tried to decide how much more magic they could get away with using today.  

An especially big one, the size of a large cat reared up on it’s hind legs.

“We stay in the forrest and do not harm you or the people in the town. You do not harm the people from the forrest. This was the deal. Do you wish to change the deal?”

“No!” Michael said firmly. “It was just… high spirits.”

The rat twitched its nose. “You and Marbus Herne can slaughter each other for all we care, but the girl tends the garden. She walks softly through the world. She cares for The Great Tree. She is our witch and you may not have her. It is only by our good graces that you are tolerated. You have tried to come for what is ours before. You have never succeeded. We protect Herne. We will protect our witch.”

Tabby cleared her throat, “Brie isn’t really a witch.”

The rat ran towards her, scrambled up her body and bit her face before she was able to fling it away.

“She tends the gardens. She feeds the birds and does not disturb the rabbits’ nests. She is our witch and you will not tell us otherwise.”

 


	17. The Storm

 

Mitchell watched the lawyer drive away in Brie’s car.Storm clouds were rolling in from no where and the sky was getting dark.The wind picked up.He ran into the shop where his crew was eating lunch.“Ok, everyone, saddle up.There’s a storm coming and we need to make sure the job site is clear.”

 

They grumbled, but they also hustled their asses into the trucks and roared back out to the house.They arrived in time to see a man with scars on his face lifting Brie out of the car and cradling her to his chest.Mr Lynn hurried over. 

 

“Either get in the house now or leave.Now.”

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Someone hurt Brie.Mr Herne is dealing with it.”

 

“Does she need a doctor?”

 

Mr Lynn hesitated.“One is on the way.I don’t want you or your crew under foot when the ambulance gets here.”Lightening stabbed the ground a few feet to the left of Mitchell.

 

“Holy shit!You gotta get them inside!Under a big f- flipping tree is not the safest place in a thunder storm.”

 

“Just go inside, we are taking care of it.”

 

The temperature had already dropped more than ten degrees since they left town.The wind was almost a tornado.The big tree in front of the house must be in the eye of the storm because it was still sunny and clear with the wind barely rustling the leaves.Mitchell turned and ran inside.

 

\-----

 

Brie opened her eyes.She was under a tree, or more specifically The Tree.Mr Hearn was there in his …demon looking form.He was watching her intently.She tried to sit up and the bubble of silence around her popped.The wind roared and howled.She was safe and warm under the tree but just past the furthest branches of the canopy was thick white fog.She knew the house was only a hundred feet away but she couldn’t see well enough to tell which directions.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

He tilted his head to the side a little, a move made more impressive by his horns.“ **You were harmed** ,” he said slowly.“ **I will be vengeance.** ”

 

Brie blinked.“That doesn’t sound good.”

 

“ **You are protected.I can not let this stand.** ”

 

“I’m fine.”She tried to sit up again, but was barely able to move her arms.Her body was heavy like lead.“Am I going to be OK?”

 

“ **You will be.I should not have taken my mark.It would have protected you.** ”

 

“Someone at the pub did this?How does that work?”

 

“ **One of them tampered with your soul.** ”

 

This time Brie did manage to sit up.The world swam, nausea grabbed her and she slumped to the side.“I regret that.Lying down.It’s great.Why mess with a good thing?”

 

“ **You will be fine.The Tree will take care of you.** ”

 

“Yeah, how does that work?”

 

Darkness thought about that.The answer was simple.For thousands of years, thousands of souls had been lost under this tree.There was so much raw material to use to mend her tattered soul.It would feel a little awkward for a while, until her body accepted it. Not terribly different than feeling a little off after needing a blood transfusion.But Brie was one of the most grounded people he had met in a decades.She would be back to herself in no time.Still, that she was being healed by the sacrificed lives of those who had gone before her might not be the answer she wanted.

 

“ **Magic out of the earth is healing you because you have cared for The Great Tree.** ”

 

“Yeah… that doesn’t sound right.This is some dark magic shit, isn’t it?”

 

“ **It is magic from the tree.Light or dark is subjective.It depends on where you are standing.Moral absolutism is a fallacy.** ”

 

“When you say tampered with my soul, what does that mean exactly?”

 

“ **It is a metaphor.Would it be easier for you to accept if I said she tampered with the electrical field in your brain?** ”

 

“What?How does that even work?”

 

“ **It is still a metaphor.There are no human words to help you understand what was done.But you are being cared for and will heal.** ”

 

Brie shook her head.“What’s with the fog?”

 

Darkness gave her a sinister smile, “ **The storm rages.The Tree is protecting you.** ”

 

“My head hurts.”

 

“ **Would you like me to help you sleep?** ”

 

Brie closed her eyes, “Does it involve tampering with the electrical field in my brain?”

 

“ **No,** ” he said firmly.He knelt and repositioned her on her side.Then he lay down next to her with her ass tucked firmly against his groin.Her head was at about the level of his sternum.He cupped her hip, then slid his hand over her thigh and settled between her legs.

 

“Oh, _that_ kind of help me sleep.”

 

“ **If you like.It would help with the pain as well**.”

 

Brie didn’t say anything.And while she was busy not saying anything, the warmth of him oozed into her bones.It was like being cuddled but the world’s most thorough hot pack.It just felt safe here.She ended up drifting back to sleep.Or something like sleep. She was still aware of his warmth behind her, of the slow and gentle drag of his fingers between her legs.She wanted to sleep.She wanted to find that place were she could talk to him in her dreams.She didn’t know how to get there.

 

“So tired.”

 

“ **Just rest.You are safe.** ”

 

“Come with me.”It didn’t make sense, but she didn’t know how to ask.

 

“ **I can’t.I took back my mark.** ”

 

Brie’s last thoughts as she lost consciousness was of exactly how it felt to have him in her dreams and of how she missed that.How she wanted it.

 

Darkness was startled as her tiny body shuttered under his touch and with a whimper the red and raised flesh on her ass returned.Without his intervention at all, she had taken his name.A slow smile crept across his face as he closed his eyes and poured himself into her dreams.

 

\----

 

In The Wing and a Prayer, the family was panicking.The ice storm had glazed the entire town.The power was out.The roads were impassible and emergency services could not get into or out of the town.Morningside was effectively cut off from the world.

 

“He had been alone for more than a century.He shouldn’t be this strong.”

 

“Anger is a powerful tool.Blind rage is even stronger.”

 

“The storm is killing people.”

 

“He doesn’t care.He only cares about one of them and he has her.”

 

“He was beaten, diminished.How is this possible?”

 

That caused a silence among them.They listened to the wind howling and considered that.

 

Finally Micheal said, “I think he has stopped playing by the rules.”

 

Gabe snorted, “He is evil.He never played by the rules.”

 

There was another pause.“He honoured the terms of the surrender,” Rafe said thoughtfully.“Right up until we broke those terms by harming his beloved.We are not on the right side of this conflict.”

 

They all thought about that.

 

Tabris asked quietly, “How do we correct this?”

 

A voice in the corner said, “You must sacrifice something you value as much as he values her.”

 

The family turned to look.There was a three foot tall mossy green imp in the corner, idly caressing a disproportionately long phallus.

 

Michael cleared his throat and asked, “And what would you suggest?”

 

The imp shrugged.“You could come over here and suck my dick.”

 

Michael frowned, allowing power to flare around him. A burning aura that people had called a halo.

 

The imp laughed. 

 

 

Brie was dreaming, wet and needy.In her mind, Marbus was human and stroking his fingers over her naked body.The sun shone.The birds sang and they were making love beneath The Tree.Her hips bucked under his touch and he stopped.

 

She whined.

 

“ **If you cum, you will wake.If you wake, the pain will return.You need to rest.** ”

 

“So why are you touching me?”

 

He laughed, “ **Brie, I am not. This is your dream.So I must ask, why are you dreaming of me touching you?** ”

 

She had to think about that.It had been a long time since she had a boyfriend, but she wasn’t just craving sex.She wanted intimacy.What she really needed to think about was why she wanted it from Marbus.

 

“ **Roll over and I will rub your back.** ”

 

She did and it was nice.

Darkness left the part of him that could pass as human tending to Brie.

 

He took the part of him that decidedly not human for a walk.

 

He stood tall.Shrouded in grey rags, he looked like the personification of death.Neither the howling wind or the blinding snow could touch him.He walked through the town with people huddled in builds, doors and windows sealed tight with a layer of ice.It would be a simple thing to block up their chimneys and open the gas lines.

 

When he got to the pub, he didn’t bother with the door but eased himself through the stone walls.He smiled to himself.The building was full of his imps.The wood sprites had turned up as well.That was interesting.He had not called them.

 

The adversaries stood huddled in the centre of the room.He waited for them to speak.

 

Tabris said, “I didn’t know it would-” she was cut off as Darkness grasped her life force and pulled.She screamed and fell to the floor.

 

The others stood by and watched.Angels do not interfere.

 

“ **The correct way to speak to me, at this time, is by begging my forgiveness.** ”

 

Michael spoke softly, “We beg your forgiveness.You are with in your rights to assuage you anger on Tabris.”

 

Tabris was less pleased with this suggestion.She whimpered from the floor.

 

Darkness laughed nastily, “ **But you were all complicit in her harm.On more than one occasion.** ”

 

Gabe protested, “We do not interfere in the actions of mortals.”

 

Darkness turned his wrath on the angel.“ **Did you not know she was being poisoned?A human with that knowledge would be punished for not interfering.Have you reached the point where your morality, your honour, is less than that of any other human pub owner?** ”

 

There wasn’t anything they could say to refute his accusations but they seethed at the implications.No one wanted to admit that they had not only allowed it to happen but had put Brie in the man’s path to get her to leave.It was not information that would be helpful at this point.

 

“ **Will you offer compensation?Or will I take it for myself?** ”

 

“What compensation are you demanding?”

 

Darkness laughed again, “ **I ask for nothing.The storm will continue until Brie is recovered.You may have whatever humans are left alive at that point.** **But this will do nothing to-** ” he paused and looked at Tabris shaking on the floor, “ **-assuage my anger.When my human is recovered, I will come here and bring war down upon this house.The people I claim will shelter in my house, and you are (of course) welcome to open your doors to anyone who survives.Then we will kill each other as the world watches this little part of it fall into the ocean.** ”

 

Michael cleared his throat, “And if we retreat?”

 

Darkness just shook his head, “ **You are not authorized to retreat.Just as you are not authorized to advance.There are advantages to my not having an overseer.You will not be granted permission to attack when it was by your hand that this skirmish was started.** ”

 

“We will destroy you!’ Charmeine snarled.

 

In his hood, Darkness smirked.“ **You will try,** ” he conceded.“ **You forget, there was a reason an entire garrison was set to guard me.** ”

 

Michael pulled power, but he turned it on his own family.“Silence!”He turned to Darkness, “We offer this pub as compensation.”

 

Darkness sneered, “ **A piece of property against my beloved?** ”

 

“Your beloved lives.” Michael pointed out.“The pub is four hundred years of people coming to sacrifice themselves to us, shortening their lives for us with every drink served, every plate of deep fry consumed.There is power here and I offer it to you.”

 

Darkness shook his head, “ **It is your power, not mine.** ”

 

“We give it to you.Freely.As reparation  for harming Brie.”

 

Darkness considered this.“If you sacrifice it to me, I will end the storm when Brie is well. And I will keep the peace for as long as you do.”

 

The angels hurriedly agreed.

 

Darkness left.

 

It was a simple matter to tip over the deep frier and let the oil find a place where the wiring was frayed.

 

Emergency services didn’t make it in time to save the building because of the storm.


	18. The Recovery

When Brie opened her eyes, she was alone.  She was still under The Tree.The storm still raged just beyond its branches.  She could feel everything.Every place her clothes touched her skin.The sunscreen she had put on that morning was palpable against her face and arms.  She could feel the grass, slightly scratchy, against her legs.The bark of the tree where the root was exposed on the surface, she could feel it against her cheek where she lay.

 

It wasn’t the only thing she could feel.

 

She ached with need.

 

It caught in her throat, and twisted in her gut and she ached.  She had felt desire before.Want before.But not like this.Her body ached and throbbed and she craved.  She needed.

 

Him.

 

Why him?

 

All that time, him touching her, talking to her, spending ever blessed moment of her dreams in her head.  Was that it?Was that why she felt like this?Dinners and picnics and breaking into his house?That voice.  That deep, dark, panty melting voice.

 

Even just thinking about it made her body clench.

 

She whimpered.

 

“Marbus?”

 

And then he was there.  Out of nowhere he was there.

 

Standing over her, looking concerned.  She whined and squeezed her legs together.

 

He dropped to his knees and reached towards her.

 

Brie flinched.  Beyond that, she couldn’t even move.

 

Then he spoke and she came from the sound of his voice alone.  Thighs shaking, hips bucking, lungs gasping, trembling like a fish out of water, her whole body responding.  To his voice.He hadn’t even touched her.And the ache was still there.When she could focus her eyes again, she looked at him.  He was kneeling next to her, watching not touching.“Please!” she whined.

 

“ **It will pass** ,” he said softly.

 

“What is this?”

 

He smiled softly at her, it was a look that was curiously out of place with his yellow vertical slit eyes and huge bull like horns.  “ **Life.  So much life force pouring through your veins looking for a way out.  You need a way to use up some of that life force.The easiest way to do that is to make a new life.  But I don’t think that was your plan.** ”

 

Brie whimpered and tried again to move.  “I’m getting worse.”

 

“ **You are getting better.  It’s just that healing hurts, and you have a whole lot of healing still to do.** ”

 

“I wanna go home.”

 

“ **Are you sure?** ”  He was watching her carefully.  “ **I can take you to your cottage, but you asked Lynn that I not come inside.  I have not done so.Not in person.I will not.I can lay you on your door step.  Again.** ”

 

Brie just closed her eyes and tried to block out everything.

 

The next time she woke it was to the gentle feeling of snow flakes falling on her skin.  Brie opened her eyes and sat up.The grounds were covered in snow.It was slowly sifting through the branches of the tree.  Marbus was crouched next to her holding a wool blanket.“ **Can I bring you inside now?** ”

 

Brie considered this.  As she pushed her self up, ripping up grass that had grown around her and in to her clothing.  “How long have I been lying here?”

 

“ **A little less than a day.** ”

 

“How did the grass grow over me in less than a day?”

 

“ **Life force.** ” Marbus fell silent as Brie tried to stand.  He caught her easily as she wobbled, then deftly wrapped her in the blanket he was holding before scooping her up in his arms.  “ **My place or yours?** ”

 

“What?”

 

“ **Am I carrying you to my bed or to your doorstep?  And to be perfectly clear, the house is currently sheltering an entire crew of construction workers.** ”  Here he stopped talking long enough to shrink back down to human shaped.  “T **he upside of that is Goblynn has stocked the kitchen to feed them.  The down side it that they will want to know if you are harmed.** ”

 

“Am I?  Harmed that is?”

 

“Not any more.  Good as new now.”

 

Brie snorted.  “If you have food, your place would be great.  Where did all this snow come from?”

 

“ **It was the storm of the century.  And, officially, you had food poisoning.** ”

 

“That’s it!  I’m never eating at that pub again.”

 

The grin on Marbus’s face was pure Darkness.  

 

\----

 

He had set her on a chair in the kitchen.  The construction crew was making sandwiches and arguing over who had to do the dishes.   Brie looked around and then turned to Marbus, “Is there soup or stuff to make soup?”

 

Marcus shrugged, “ **We have any groceries you need.  What would you like me to make for you?** ”

 

“I would like some chicken soup.”

 

Marbus nodded.  He turned and went into the walk in fridge and came out with a pot.  He put the pot on the stove and lit the stove.“ **Chicken soup will be warm shortly.** ”

 

Brie wanted to ask when the walk in fridge has been installed.  It was not there the night she had broken in.There just wasn’t any part of that sentence she was prepared to voice aloud in front of Mitchel and his crew.  In stead she sat quietly mumbling vague answers about getting sick and nodding in agreement when the workers talked about how lucky she had been to get out before the storm had gotten that bad.  They had stories about losing power and having to use the oil lamps and matches to light the stove.About how they had closed off the doors to the kitchen to keep the heat from the gas stove in.  About how Mr Lynn could roast a mean turkey.

 

Who kept a turkey ready to go in a fridge that wasn’t there a couple of weeks ago?

 

Was the soup actually chicken?  Was it something closer to pomegranate seeds?  Marbus was watching her.

 

“ **Brie?  Do you need to go lie down in one of the guest rooms?** ”

 

“Yeah.  That would be nice.”

 

Marbus nodded, “ **This way.** ”

 

Brie wobbled when she stood up.  Mitchell was at her side in an instant.  “You need any help?”

 

Marbus was watching with curiosity.  Brie blinked and looked between the two of them.  “I just want to sleep.Once the steps are cleared and the roads are safe, I’ll head back to my cottage. “

 

One of the others who Brie didn’t recognize said, “That might be a while.  It sounds like there are lots of trees down.”

 

Brie shivered and shrugged.  “That’s going to suck.I am in no mood to hike through the snow to get clean clothes.”

 

Someone snorted, “Your stuff is a lot closer than mine.”

 

Brie nodded and blinked and wobbled again.  Marbus caught her easily around the waist, “ **This way.** ”

 

He led her upstairs and down hallways and into part of the house she had never seen before.  He opened a door and left her standing on the threshold as he went to open the heavy drapes.As Brie blinked in the sudden light, she could see the grounds covered in snow.  And past the orchards, she could see the roof of her cottage.The room smelled freshly cleaned but looked antique.As she looked around, Marbus walked passed a fireplace that lit under his gaze and over to a large wardrobe.  As he opened the doors the smell of cedar filled the room.He thumbed through the clothes before pulling out an old fashioned chemise.He looked at it critically before offering it to her.

 

“ **I can assure you it is clean,** ” he said carefully.  “ **As is the room and the bedding.  If it does not please you, other arrangements can be made.** ”

 

“It’s September.  Did you make it snow?”

 

Marbus sighed and went to sit on the bed.  “ **Yes.** ”

 

“Why?”

 

“ **You were dying and I was angry**.”

 

“But I didn’t die.”

 

“ **I can not take credit for that.  I do not have the power to give life.** ”  

 

Brie came over and sat on the bed.  The chenille bedspread was still in good condition.  It covered adown duvet which in turn covered a feather bed.  All this together meant that when she sat, she sank and wondered how Marbus was perched so nicely on the bed.   She thought about all of that.His words reminded her of something.

 

“Why didn’t you?”

 

“ **Take credit for it?  Why would I waste a lie on something so pathetic?  What if you believed I could heal you and grew careless?  What-** ”

 

“No,” Brie interrupted.  “Under the tree.You knew what I was asking for, so why not?”

 

Marbus frowned at her and out of that frown, Darkness grew.  “ **Can you imagine any circumstances where I could have taken advantage that would have allowed you to stay here when I was finished?  Because I sure as hell could not.And as much as the other side blames the idea of instant gratification on us, I have been alone in this house for too long to want you to leave.** ”

 

Brie thought about that.  “Are there circumstances where I could take advantage and still be able to stay?”

 

Darkness snorted.  It paired well with his bull horns, ears and neck.  “ **The Tree and the local sprites would have plenty to say if I drove you off.  Whatever you ask of me, I will be careful with you.** ”

 

She chewed her lip for a moment.  They were dry and starting to peel from being outside for a day and night in the wind.  Darkness was watching her with an unblinking stare.“You said something about making new life and you are right, I don’t want that.  Maybe someday, but I’m not ready to be pregnant.”

 

Darkness nodded slowly.

 

Brie was watching him intently.  She slowly reached out and caught him by that ridiculous chin and pulled him in for a kiss.  It was like lighting a fire under her skin.  His hands traced careful patterns over her arms.

 

And he had to be careful, she knew his claws were sharp.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My finger slipped and I accidentally posted to patreon early, so you get a chapter early too.


	19. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning - smut?

Brie had asked him to wear a condom.  That was novel, but he agreed.She pulled one out of her purse and set it on the nightstand.

 

He started by nuzzling her.  His shy little gardener blushing and squirming under his hands. Trying to hide the softness of her body.  Her hands covering the places she was afraid to show.Effectively, if inadvertently, drawing attention to the places he needed to touch.  Rubbing his cheeks over her skin as he occasionally threw in a lick.Nibbling at her breasts, letting his sharp teeth scrape over her nipples.  Listening to her little gasps as he found what she liked.Her hands ghosted over his chest and around the back of his neck.Fingers twitching over the space behind his ears, around the base of his horns.  Finding the places that threatened to push him over the edge.

 

We are all animals, and he was about to show Brie, exactly how feral he could be.

 

Eventually, he caught her wrists in one hand and pinned them over her head so that they wouldn’t bother him while he played.  He worked his way down her body with kisses and licks and the occasional bite hard enough to leave a bruise before he settled between her legs.  He spent time sucking her clit, nibbling her thighs, sucking her clit, forcing her to cum again and again.Until her body was twitching, cunt clenching at nothing as she squirmed away from his lips.   Her body arched off the bed, completely over stimulated.

 

 

 

He stood over her then. Drinking in the energy from her pleasure.  Once she could move again, he handed her a condom from the night stand.  She looked at him with a slight frown.“I’m not sure it will fit.”

 

He snorted, “ **The condom will fit.** ”

 

“I meant your dick.”

 

He threw back his head and laughed at that.

 

Brie’s hands rolling down his cock felt amazing.  Once she was done, he lifted her up, and kissed her face before flipping her over on her hands and knees on the bed.  It helped put her body at the nearly perfect height for him standing on the floor.“ **You good?** ” he asked.

 

Brie nodded, she was still a little languid. Good, he needed her relaxed for this.

 

Darkness ran one huge hand down her back and over her ass.  He dipped between her thighs, rubbing over her lips.Almost perfect.  He pushed her knees closer together, then passed a hand around her waist, up over her belly and between her breasts.  It allowed him to adjust her angle to suit.Her cunt wasn’t deep enough to take all of him and fucking her ass would take more time to work up to.  This would do.

 

Her thighs were slick with her cum.  “ **Keep your knees together,”** he ordered.

 

He pushed between their creamy skin and up and into her body.  She mewed softly.She was so tight, he had to stop once the flare of his cock was passed her folds and allow them both to adjust. Her legs were already shaking.  As he pushed himself in deeper, he leaned over so his mouth was next to her ear.Then he whispered, “ **I want to you scream now.”**

 

The sound she made as he pushed in a deep as he dared was less of a scream and more of a moan.  Darkness smirked, he would just have to try harder.   He pulled back slowly, letting the rim of his cockhead scrape against her walls and was rewarded with a whine.  She really did make the best noises, he thought.He slammed back into her to a gasp and she cried out as his balls swung forward and slapped her clit.  Her body convulsed around him.He stilled as her body tried milking him.She was whimpering now.

 

 **“Need me to stop?”**   He laughed.  Then he dragged himself out and this time eased back in.  She wasn’t supporting herself anymore.He was holding her, one hand across her chest and one on her hip.  Her body was sweaty and limp in his grasp.He waited for her to weakly shake her head.

 

Then he stood up.  He let gravity pull her legs down and together and really held his cock between them.  He held her up and against him,so that he couldn’t push too deep nor put too much of his weight into it.  She didn’t seem to be in what he would consider pain, but enough … discomfort that he would have to watch how close to the edge of pain he was pushing her.  

 

He used her like a cock sleeve until her body was shaking with pleasure and thrashing to get away. Only then did he push in as deep as she could take. That finally elicited a scream from her. Darkness let out a feral roar as he sank to his knees. He felt his body tighten and his balls empty into the condom

 

After their breathing slowed,  he let her slide off of him and onto the floor.  He was expecting to be disappointed by the lack of his cum running down her legs.  Instead he was pleasantly surprised by how wet she was, how much of her cum was oozing out of her.  He picked her up and lay her on the bed before removing the condom with a splash.

 

Brie was already asleep when he turned his attention back to her. Her thighs were still trembling.  He lifted one of her legs and looked at her pussy.It was red, stretched and painful looking. Good.  He would be ready for a rematch before she was.

 

 

Brie woke feeling warm and happy. Afterglow almost crackling under her skin.  She yawned and stretched and winced, then remembered.She managed to get herself into a sitting position, her abdominals protesting the entire way.  So did her glutes and the backs of her thighs.

 

Marbus was watching her from a wingback chair near the fireplace.  “ **Shall I kiss it better?** ” he purred.

 

Brie’s laugh was cut short as, her muscles protested.  She continued to smile though, “I get the feeling that could be a vicious cycle.”

 

“ **Oh of course.  That’s half the fun.** ”

 

“I bet it is. Hey, you promised me chicken soup,” she accused.

 

“ **I did.  Are you ready for that now?** ”  She nodded.  He continued, “ **Next time no condom.** ”

 

Brie’s eyes narrowed at him.  “You flat out told me that your species and mine can cross pollinate.  Reproduce.Whatever.I’m not ready to have kids and I’m not ready to raise a little hellion. “

 

Marbus hoisted himself out of the chair and came over to her. He reached out to cup her chin as she glared up at him.  Looking deep into her eyes, his flashed yellow for a moment.“ **You have other holes I could use.** ”

 

Brie shivered.  “Soup now.”

 

He let that go with a smirk, then nodded and left.

 

Brie took a moment then to collect her racing thoughts.    She hadn’t ever had anyone play with her ass, but she was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to go from nothing to something the size of his cock without working up to that.  His offer felt vaguely like a threat.She wasn’t overly impressed by that.

 

Brie felt a clenching in her stomach. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.  The first time you have sex with a new person, it is generally mediocre at best.  It got better as you learned about each other. There was an intimacy in that.There wasn’t any though in just letting someone use you whenever and however they liked.  

 

Scanning the room to distract herself she saw a basin by the fire that had water reflecting in it. Gingerly, she got up and made her way over.  The water seemed clean as did the cloth sitting next to the basin. Brie dipped the cloth into the fire warmed water and began to wipe the night's activities from her skin.  This was when she began to take stock of the bruises and scratches across her entire body, and even more so the rawness she felt between her legs.She slipped on the antique nightgown from earlier and crawled back into bed. Not entirely sure if the pleasure had been worth the bruises and discomfort her body was feeling now.

 

The first time Darkness had basically hung her knees over his horns and eaten her out like she was a feed bag, she would gladly do again. But last night, no she wouldn’t...couldn’t  let him have that much control again. At least not like that, not if this was going to continue.

 

Marbus came in carrying a breakfast tray with a bowl of soup and some butter rolls.

 

“Next time I get to be on top,” Brie said firmly.  Marbus froze halfway to the bed.“And you are wearing the damn condom,” she added.

 

He smirked, pleased that she was already planning for next time.   He set down the tray.“ **Eat some soup.  Sleep it off.We can discuss it once the workmen leave.  The snow has been steadily melting and the roads are almost clear now.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please. I'm having a tough go of it today. Work was ... challenging. There were a lot of frustrated people angry at me about things I can't change.


	20. Afterglow

Brie woke up wrapped in a cocoon of blankets. She could feel the draft from the lead glass, single paned window on her face. She sighed. Everything out there just looked wet but, “That snow will have killed the garden.”

Marbus rumbled from somewhere behind her. “ **Maybe, maybe not.** **It wasn’t bitterly cold, just stormy.** **Lots of plants can take a day of cold weather and come back from it.** **The fruit trees will be fine.** ”

Brie wiggled painfully over onto her other side to find him watching her from the doorway, her ab muscles screaming in protest the whole time. “The claw marks on your face look better.”

He shrugged, “ **It’s hard to heal when you’re starving.** ”

Brie flinched, “Am I you food source then? Are you going to eat me all up and leave me drained of life or something?”

He gave her a very serious look, “ **You are feeding me, but it isn’t costing you anything but the attention you pay me.** **Where do you think that expression came from?** **Pay attention?** **An odd thing to say, in a human context, isn’t it?** **But your care and attention is fuel for me.** ”

“Fuel to do what?” she asked, nervously.

“ **Live.** **I can exist with out it.** **But to actually live - that requires someone to live for.** ”

She seemed to consider this, “And what does it cost you to pay attention to me?”

He laughed, it wasn’t a nice laugh, rather like he had seen the joke at her expense. “ **You can take nothing from me.** ” The look on her face as he said that did not please him. “ **But you can accept what I offer** ,” he concluded, trying to take some of the sting out if it. Then he froze as he realized he was lying. Even in her unconscious state she had pulled his name from him. She had taken it to wear on her skin. There was power in that. Power she now had over him.

And that was another concept modern humans did not understand, the power involved in giving and taking of names.

Brie noticed his sudden stillness, “What’s wrong?”

Darkness would never intensionally lie to her, but he wasn’t above some misdirection. “ **I hurt you.** **I want to make up for that**.”

Brie crawled out of bed and started looking for her clothes. Her core muscles ached as did her thighs and she wouldn’t be surprised if she found bruises on her ass in the next day or two. She her clothes, still in a heap by the door, they were completely filthy with leaves and grass and mud. She sighed. That would make the walk of shame even worse. She wanted a bath and clean clothes and - “Help me get home, we’ll call it even.”

Marbus nodded slowly, “ **If that’s what you want.** ”

 

Brie had needed to lean fairly heavily against him as he walked her across the grounds to her cottage.

She did not invite him in. They waited until he was out of sight of her cottage before the goblins swarmed.

One in the shape of a deer spoke, “We warned the angels against hurting our witch. You are not to harm her either.”

Darkness snarled, “ **You think you can dictate my behaviour?** ”

They trembled but did not back down, “Your anger hurt the garden, and now you have injured our witch.”

“ **She isn’t your hedge witch.** ” Darkness said flatly.

They all laughed. Even for him, that was creepy.

“What do you think she does all day? She tends to our gardens, to trees. She takes care of our lands. Even when you asked for a poison garden, she gardens to protect the plants and animals from each other. She is protecting this land. Guarding it. Tending it. Humans who do the work of a god, who act as a god can become a god. How many shrines to Francis are there around the world? How many worship and pray to Teresa?  

“Humans can evolve into something more with barely a little nudge. You many not nudge our hedge witch into becoming your sex goddess. She is ours first. We are allowing you to share.” They all glared at him now, then in one voice they all said, “As long as you do not keep her from her good work.”

Darkness opened his mouth to protest that it was the angels who had kept her from the gardens. Then he realized he had left her in no shape to be cleaning up from the storm. They were right, it was not just the angels hurting her. Still, she was planning for next time. That made him smirk, but he nodded politely and thoughtfully returned to his home.

Brie ran a hot bath and dumped a cup of epsom salts into the water before stripping out of her grimy clothing and digging out a soft pair of pyjamas.  

The scar was back.

That needed some thinking about. Had Darkness clawed it into her again? It was already healed, but maybe the tree had done that as well.

Her body ached. Her head ached. She had a mystic rune carved into her ass. Why wasn’t she packing up and running away?

She sighed as she settled into the warm water. Leaning back in the tub so that her knees were above the water and her neck rested on the back of the tub she tried to figure out what she was doing with her life. She just sat there, letting the heat soak into her muscles. She needed someone to talk to.  

She called Tessa.

She tried to explain what had happened, leaving out the supernatural stuff, but including as much of the rest as she could. When she finished there was a long pause on the other end of the line.

Then Tessa spoke. “Let me get this straight. You broke into his house in the middle of the night. When you weren’t even supposed to look in through the windows. Then you fucked your boss while staying at his place during the ice storm that nearly destroyed the town.”

Brie felt ashamed, but the only part of that she could argue was, “I wouldn’t say destroyed the town-”

“Are you sure? You made national news. There pictures are pretty bad looking.”

“I haven’t been watching the news.”

“No, you’ve been too busy boning your boss.”

“Ugh! Tessa!”

There was another pause. “Is this where you tell me you love him or some bull shit?”

“No.”

“Fine.” Tessa thought some more, “Was the sex at least good?”

“…. Yes…”

Tessa sighed, “That doesn’t sound convincing, Brie.”

“It was good, but he’s big enough that I’m hurting a bit now.”

They both tried to process that.

Brie broke the silence, “You don’t need to tell Iggy that. Or any of this.”

Tessa started to laugh. Then with sarcasm dripping from her voice she said, “Yeah, because my husband always wants the details of his baby sister’s sex life.” She considered her next words carefully.  “Do you need to come home? Or do you want me to come visit you there?”

“Tessa - you are due to push out my niece or nephew in a few days, you are not coming to visit.”

“You could come here.”

“I thought your mom was-”

“Yeah. Why do you think I’m looking to escape? She has all kinds of helpful advice involving castor oil and how to get the baby to deliver sooner. It’s driving me nuts, Brie!”

Brie giggled.

“Just wait, you will get your turn! Your mom isn’t going to be….” she trailed off. “Please tell me you were at least safe.” The last bit came out quietly.  

“Tessa! Of course I was!”

“Oh thank god! My peanut doesn’t need cousins quite that fast.” Neither of them spoke until Tessa asked, “Are you in love or is this just sex?”

Brie had to think about that. “I like him more than I should. I’m not sure that counts as love.”

Eventually, Tessa needed to go help her mom find something in her kitchen. Apparently the woman was making soup, although Tessa said she was mostly just making a mess. Brie set down the phone and looked out across the field through her window. Normally the view was obscured by the leaves on the trees.

The storm had changed that.

She should, in theory, be getting on with cleaning up the debris from the downed trees and bagging the leaves that had blown onto the lawn. Instead, she crawled into her bed. After a moment, she got up and got her vibrator. As she turned back to her bed she found there was a rabbit on her bed standing on its back legs holding a bottle of advil. Brie jumped and shrieked a little. The rabbit twitched its nose then leaned forward with the bottle. Brie stuffed the vibrator into the pocket of her robe and slowly took the bottle from the creature.

“Did he send you?”

It awkwardly shook its head. “I come from the garden. We want you to come back to us,” it whispered before jumping off the bed and running away.

Brie looked at the bottle in her hands and wondered, again, how this was her life.


	21. Scared

It had been a week. Brie had gone back to work the day after. She hadn’t been back to the house. Mitchell and his crew still worked there. She tried to stay out of the way. All in all she was chalking this up to experience. It was the reason Mr Lynn had told her to stay away from the house.

She was running out of food in her cupboards since she hadn’t been to town in the last week either. She wasn’t sleeping well. Her dreams were full of Darkness. Her days were more full of wildlife than she remembered. At one point she had asked the stag who was sleeping on her step if he could please not come to the house. The creature had -impossibly- bowed, then left.

She felt like she was trapped in the middle of a three way conflict and she wasn’t happy about that. And she couldn’t deny that she had been in danger more with this job than she ever had before it. She was waiting for Tessa to deliver so she would have an excuse to run away for a while.

She was conflicted about that. On one hand it felt pathetic to be running away. On the other she shouldn’t need an excuse. If she wanted to leave, there wasn’t anything stopping her.

Except there was. Every night she made supper and had to make a conscious decision not to cook for two. That thing about feeding him, that had gotten to her. He was like an addiction. She had never masturbated so much in her whole life as she had in this last week. Which was ridiculous. Her body still ached from the last time she slept over. The bruises on her ass and thighs hadn’t healed yet and based on the cramping, neither had the internal ones. But here she was, craving something she knew would hurt her, not quite managing to talk herself into believing it was a new kink.

She hadn’t even been able to bring her car home. She was half afraid the engine would have turned into spiders or that something monstrous would have happened to it after Mr Lynn drove her home.

If he had been tender, she would have been back there that very night. As it was, every time she went to lift or pull something she was reminded that he wasn’t. And she wasn’t entirely sure that comment about using her other holes was a joke or not. He looked like the devil, why was she surprised that he used sex to hurt her? This was basically a case of “as advertised on the packet.”

She was done work for the day. She really needed to go get her car before it got dark and go get groceries.

Fuck.

She needed to give herself a mental pep talk to even get out the door. Keys, purse, being stalked through the trees by some unknown presence.  

She stopped and looked around. “Who is there?” She didn’t shout. She just said it in her regular speaking voice. A rabbit hopped into the path ahead of her. Feeling like an idiot she told it, “I have to got to town to buy food. I’m nervous about taking my car.”

The rabbit wiggled its nose, then wiped its face with a paw then it spoke. “You do not need to be afraid of taking what is yours. But if you want to avoid him, the workers haven’t left yet. Now is a good time to go.”

Brie blinked. “Um… thank you?”

The rabbit bobbed for a moment, then hopped off the path.

Brie stood there in shock. Then she gave her head a shake and ran towards the house to get her car.

The rabbit had been right, the construction crew was just packing up for the day. Mitchell waved and came over.

“I haven’t seen you around much this week. Feeling better after the food poisoning?”

Brie swallowed and nodded.

“Have you seen inside yet? Only he has us working on the kitchen and one of the guest rooms first. I got the impression that it might be a room for you.”

Brie felt her skin crawl, “Why would you say that?”

Mitchell shrugged, “Well, you take care of the place. And they brought in a designer to make the room more girly. I mean, feminine,” he hastily corrected himself. Then he blinked, “Shit. I hope that wasn’t supposed to be a surprise.”

Brie shrugged. “I can act surprised if need be. What do you mean more girlie?”

He thought carefully, “Well, we replaced the plaster molding. The light fixture is crystal. They painted the ceiling the lightest shade of purple. And it will be the only room in the house that I have seen with light coloured wood floors. Plus the stained glass going into the new triple pane windows is all flowers and leave and sh- stuff.”

Brie blinked, “He’s buying stained glass windows?”

Mitchell nodded, “Yeah. Expensive looking custom ones. Tiffany meets Van Gogh style of thing. Just on the transoms over the regular windows. It’s going to be a nice room.”

Brie considered this. “Huh. Other than that, how is the project going?”

Mitchell grinned, “It’s all so super lux that I might be able to retire by the time this job is done.”

Brie nodded. “None of his cheques have bounced?”

Mitchell gaped at her for a moment, “Oh god! Have yours?”

“No. I’m just not actually sure what he does for a living.”

“From what I hear, it’s internet porn.” Mitchell looked at her coat and purse. “Heading into town?”

“Yeah, I need groceries.”

“Have you been into town since the storm? All the glass on the front of the market was smashed by hail stones. I’m not sure they are opened yet.”

Brie blinked. It was a lot further to the next town over. That would me a long drive home in the dark. She wasn’t entirely sure she was up to that yet.

Mitchell noticed her hesitation. “Look, we are on our way back to Elzevir. If you can’t get what you want in Morning Side you can either follow us, or I could give you a ride and bring you back in the morning.”

Brie considered this. She had only know Mitchell a week, but the idea of just getting a hotel in Elzevir was tempting. She could afford to treat herself to a night out. “If you don’t mind, I’ld follow the convoy.”

Mitchell grinned, “Sure thing. We will be heading out in about -” he looked over his shoulder at the guys loading the trucks, “- fifteen minutes maybe.”

Brie nodded, “Awesome! I need to get some stuff from my cottage, but I’ll meet you at the cross roads, OK?”

“Great!” Mitchell hurried off.  

Brie looked at the house. Marbus Herne was watching her through the curtains from the second floor. Brie dropped her gaze. Mr Lynn had told her not to look at the house. She got in her car and drove down the drive way, off of the property, around the corner and up the other, shorter driveway to her cottage. It took two minutes to dump a pair of pyjamas and a change of clothes into a bag and head back out to her car. She was on the road right behind the work trucks heading out of town.

\----

“ **She is leaving. Why is she leaving?** ” Darkness demanded.

Goblynn was not in a particularly charitable mood. His master had been flat out sulking that the woman had stopped bringing him offerings. This was the only explanation for why he snapped. “Do you want the long answer or the short one?”

Darkness turned away from the window and narrowed his eyes, “ **The short one.** ”

“You are an idiot.” Goblynn said firmly. “And, actually kind of an asshole.”

Darkness roared and caught the smaller creature around the throat.

Goblynn grabbed his wrist and gritted out, “Did you not use her for your own pleasure and then discard her like a broken toy?”

Darkness lowered him to the floor and snarled, “ **I wasn’t the only one being pleasured, I can assure you.** **She still dreams of me every night**.”

“So, would it be fair to say you forced a couple of orgasms out of her, fucked her hard enough to make it really hurt and are now invading her dreams and there by depriving her of sleep? Did she ask to be tortured?” He watched as Darkness got really angry at that, but ignored it to continue, “Did you at least let her sleep enough that she is safe to drive?”

Whatever curse Darkness had been preparing to issue forth died on his lips as his eyes went wide in horror before he turned back to the window.


	22. Delayed

Brie was surprisingly light hearted to be heading out of town. Somehow the idea of treating herself to a night out was exciting.  Maybe she could go see a movie, try out a new restaurant, get a good night’s sleep. Would she still dream of Darkness or would she be beyond his reach? A good ten hours sleep would be worth the cost of the hotel.

\----

“ **Call her!** ”

“If you insist, but using a cell phone while driving isn’t safe either,” Lynn was enjoying this entirely too much.

Darkness gritted his teeth. “ **How do we know when she isn’t driving?** ”

“We don’t. She is on her own own time. We have no hold over her.”

Darkness snarled, “ **I want her to come back!** ”

That was it, Lynn snapped, “Then act like it! Stop treating her like a sex toy and actually show her some appreciation!”

Darkness considered this, “ **She does need a new dress.** ”

Lynn snorted with contempt. “It isn’t 1362. That isn’t going to cut it. Besides, have you ever seen her wearing a skirt? Something more personal might help.”

Darkness wracked his brain. “ **I could get her…. Flowers?** **Because she likes to garden.** ”

Lynn sighed, “It’s a start.”

\----

Brie slept in until house keeping came to check on the room. It was wonderful. She had a nice breakfast in the hotel. When she made it home to her cottage the next day, there was a letter waiting for her in Marbus Herne’s copperplate handwriting:

Brie considered this as she went into her cottage and found her work clothes.  Then she got the tractor out of the garage and set out to mow the lawn. Not because it needed mowing, but leaves were starting to fall and vacuuming them up with the high loft blades on the tractor was easier than raking. She took the time to adjust the blades, considering her options as she did.

She could ignore it.

She could ask Mr Lynn to tell their boss to leave her alone, which felt like telling the teacher on him.

She could quit, which felt like running away. It was also stupid before she had another job. She needed to start looking for a new job.

Or she could put on her big girl pants, march in there and …  

That was the problem. Was she really going to tell a demon to fuck off?

He said he was a prisoner here. She wasn’t. She could just leave. She should just leave. If bears came with a Do Not Feed warning, what had she been thinking feed the demon?

She was close to the house now. Mitchell waved. She waved back. Marbus Herne walked out of the house and marched over to the tractor. Suddenly her choices were either stop and talk to him or run him over.

Brie stopped the tractor.

“ **Come inside** -” he started to say.

Mitchell interrupted with, “Yeah! Come check out the work, Brie! We’ve done an excellent job, if I do say so myself!”

Brie looked between them. “Yeah. OK.”

The more time she spent with Mitchell the more he reminded her of a puppy. He was keen. So excited that if he had a tail, it would be wagging. She smiled, wryly, then nodded, “Sure, let’s go see the work.”

It was Mitchell, not Marbus that led her through the door, up the stairs and back to what could have been the room she had last slept in The walls were repainted a cool blue glossy white that contracted with the chalky look of the ornate plaster dental crown molding. As promised, the ceiling was ever so slightly lilac with a centre medallion and chandelier that had dozens of fragile looking glass bubbles instead of crystals. The stained glass windows were as beautiful as Mitchell had said they were.

What he hadn’t mentioned we the thousands of dollars worth of potted orchards in the room.

“Woah!” it was Mitchell who said it, but Brie was thinking it too. They both turned to look at Marbus.  

He was looking at Brie.

“Ah. Yes. I can see why you wanted to show me this. Indoor gardening isn’t really my specialty, Mr Herne.  You will want to bring in a hydroponics specialist. I will see if I can track down some names.”

“ **Ms Moreno** \- “ he stopped.

“Yes, Mr Herne?”

Marbus looked at Mitchell. “ **I want to speak with you about choosing plants for the rest of the house.** ”

“Again, Mr Herne, that is outside of my abilities, especially given the previous damp problem in the house. You will need special ventilation, heating, lighting. I am not the right person to talk to.”

“I am!” said Mitchell helpfully.

Herne gritted his teeth, then turned on the contractor, “ **Leave us!** ”

Mitchell looked shocked.

“ **Please,** ” was added through gritted teeth. 

Mitchell frowned. “Sure thing.” He turned and left.

Marbus waved a hand. The door closed behind him.

“That’s it. I’m leaving.”

“ **Why are you doing this?** ”

Brie didn’t turn to look at him. “It was a mistake. I want to just forget it happened.”

Marbus went very quiet for a moment. Brie walked toward the door. “ **I’m sorry you were disappointed.** ”

“Disappointed? That’s what you think this is? You hurt me. I still have bruises. But, you don’t care. Tell me you haven’t been haunting me and I will spit in your face.” Brie was shaking now, her face red, her eyes wet. 

Marbus Herne licked his lips. “ **I have never…** ” he trailed off, unable to continue.

“Never what? What can you possibly say to make that any better?”

“ **I have never wanted a woman to come back before.** ”

“Bullshit!”

Marbus sighed. “ **It is the truth.** **I regret haunting your dreams.** **I had not considered that from your perspective.** **You left and I still wanted to spend time with you.** ”

It was true. The woman sacrificed to the tree were used until he grew tired. They did not come back. The young wife who had stayed in the house when her husband left wanted him. Darkness was prepared to take advantage of that, but it didn’t mean he cared for her.

He felt strangely protective of Brie. Maybe it was the night he had rescued her. Suddenly, he was invested. No. It was before that. The way she had sassed Lynn in her interview. A determined woman was an attractive woman.

Only now she was determined to leave.

“ **How do I make it up to you?** ”

“Not haunting my dreams would be a start.”

He nodded, “ **As you wish.** ”

She nodded, “Now unlock the doors.”

“ **They are only closed, not locked.** ”

Brie fled.

\----

She was putting down mulch around The Tree when her phone rang. It was sheer luck that she was doing something that allowed her to hear it. It was Mr Lynn.

Brie looked at the phone then wiped her forehead on her sleeve before answering. “Hello?”

Interestingly enough, the voice on the other end was not Mr Lynn. “Ms Moreno? This is Maureen from GB Lynn and Associates.” Maureen sounded like a jaded chainsmoker approaching retirement.

“Yes?”

“He asks that you not resign.” Maureen sounded bored.

“I can’t promise that.”

Brie could hear the shrug. The sigh the woman made was basically the boomer equivalent of whatever. “He also asks that you don’t ‘let Mr Herne off that easily’.”  

Brie blinked in shock. Then she laughed. “Yeah. I can do that.” She tucked her phone back in her pocket and looked toward the house. Marbus was watching her out of a second story window with a worried look on his face. Mr Lynn was watching her from a first story window with a smirk. She ignored them both and went back to work.  

There was always so much work to do. She had very nearly hit the point of stagnation. Most of her week was not spent on maintaining the parts of the garden she had fixed up. She didn’t have much time to actually make progress anymore. She came home every night, exhausted. And those sleepless nights hadn’t helped.

As it was she spend the day working to get caught up to where she had been before… what ever the hell the last few weeks at been. There was a peace that came from working in the garden. It was physical enough to push her body and quiet enough to give her time to think. She realized she was doing that “you should know why I’m mad” thing. She hated that passive aggressive bullshit.

She stood up, wiped her dirty hands on her pants and marched into the house. Standing in the empty foyer she shouted, “Marbus! Can I have a word?”

“ **You can have all my words.** ”

Brie jumped, he had materialized right next to her. How do you tell a demon, “hey, you seem like a nice guy, but the sex was horrible”?

“In private?” she suggested.

He lead her up the stairs and to the library where she had first spoken to him. She sat on the couch, then stood up. “You are too damn tall.”

He knelt before her and damned if she didn’t get a little trill from that. Still, this was going to be a difficult conversation.

“If I criticize you, will I end up with my guts ripped out and draped over the fence?”

“ **Of course not.** ”

“See, I would hope not but I don’t know anymore.” She stopped talking he waited patiently. While holding heavy eye contact. She took a breath and blew it out. “I don’t want to sleep with you again. What you want out of … sex isn’t what I want. It wasn’t _horrible_. It was just that it wasn’t what I wanted. The worst part was that demons and violence is such a cliche. Part of why I am disappointed was that I had expected something different. Then it turns out it is a cliche for a reason.”

“ **I’m not a demon.** ”

“Immortal being, what ever. You suck at aftercare and I didn’t want the kind of night that would need it.”

He frowned slightly, “ **What is aftercare?** ”

Brie blushed. “Just google it if you want to know. It might be helpful for the next girl you seduce. I just want to know if I get to keep gardening here if I’m not fucking you.”

“ **I am not your employer, Goblynn is.** ”

“OK. Fine. Good. I’m going to go back to the whole ‘don’t go into the house’ rule he had and if we could just pretend none of this happened that would be great.”  

She had started talking faster by the end of that exchange and at the last word she spun and fled down the stairs. She tripped on the frayed carpet. She would have fallen if two of the spindles hadn’t reached out and caught her. She grabbed the hand rail and held on for dear life until she got her balance back. The spindles were back were they belonged. She looked up at Marbus watching her with a sad expression. She held onto the hand rail the rest of the way down the stairs and didn’t look back as she left the house.

She picked up her tools and put them away. She drove the tractor back to the garage. She tried to stretch out her shoulders on her way out of the garage. She needed a hot shower and some food. When she got to her front door there was an orchard and a picnic basket waiting for her.

There was a note on the basket. She read it.

She brought the basket and the flower inside.

 


	23. Repairs

It was an odd change to come back to her cottage, tired and dirty from a days work and find food waiting for her. It seemed that Marbus was returning the favour. It was certainly nicer than having to cook for herself, but it had been a week and she was getting tired of restaurant food. He wasn’t cooking for her, he was ordering take out. Brie didn’t know what it was, too much salt, too much fat, but the food that he was sending wasn’t what she was used to and she was going to need to tell Mr Lynn to make it stop. Half the time she wasn’t sure if he was trying to fatten her up. It was always the sort of rich food that tasted so good it was gout waiting to happen. Rich cream sauces, expensive soft cheese, wonderful rustic bread, fresh pasta, and more red meat than she would be eating on her own.

Today when she walked back to her cottage at the end of the day, there was a stag resting on her front step. Feeling like an idiot, she looked at it and asked, “What can I do for you?”

“He has been here long enough that he is one of ours,” it said in a surprisingly deep voice to be coming out of such a delicate mouth.

Brie didn’t need to ask who.

“What do you want?”

The stag seemed to think about this for a while. “Do you think you can care for him as well?”

She considered this. “I tried for a while. Then I learned that he can’t care for me.”

The stag got awkwardly to its feet, stared at her for a moment then flicked an ear before climbing off her step. “He is trying. He doesn’t know how.”

Brie watched him leave, “I don’t want to get hurt trying to teach him.”

\----

 

Mitchell needed final approval for the bathroom fixtures before he ordered then. Finding Mr Herne was easy. He just had to find Brie working in the yard, then find the window with the best view. Marbus Herne would always be at that window.  

He knocked on the door, “Mr Herne?”

“ **I do not appreciate when you remove her from the property.** ”

Mitchell blinked. The whole stalker thing Herne had toward the gardener was bad enough. That statement made him want to call the cops. “I need your approval for the plumbing order.”

The scarred man turned from the window, read the purchase order and signed it before turning back to the window.

Mitchell tried to think of what to say. “Does she know you watch her?”

“ **Yes**.”

Mitchell shuddered, “Doesn’t she find that creepy?” Herne turned to look at him. It was surely just a trick of the light that for a moment his eyes looked yellow. Mitchell shifted on the spot and looked away. He was uncomfortable being in the same room as the man for a few minutes. He had no idea how Brie could stand the guy.

“ **I have already scared her out of the house.** ”

Mitchell nodded then turned to leave. He just wanted out of the room.

“ **What would you have me do?** ”

He shrugged. “It’s none of my business, but generally I find women would rather be listened to than stared at.

\----

There hadn’t been a food basket on the step with the stag, merely a note asking her to come to the house to discuss over wintering the garden. Brie wondered if it was the “we won’t be needing a grounds keeper over winter” discussion. It wasn’t that surprising. He had said she was feeding him. What would he do now that she wasn’t?

Still, Brie cleaned up and put on a clean clothes. The evening was getting colder, so she brought a jacket. There were critters watching her walk toward the house. Feeling stupid she asked, “Any words of advice?”

Fittingly, it was something that looked like a rabbit that said, “He can please you with out you inviting him in.” Despite their single minded reputation, no bunny should manage to look that lewd.

Brie just shook her head. When she got to the house the door was slightly open. “Hello?”

“ **Come in.** ”

The fireplace room was largely untouched by the construction. Darkness sat in one of the large chairs dragged closer to the fire. Brie took one of the human sized ones along the wall. They sat in silence for a while, each waiting for the other to go first.

Finally, without looking at her, Darkness spoke. “T **ell me what needs to be done.** ”

Brie cleared her throat, “The small cedars and rosebushes will need to be wrapping and I’m still working on cleaning up the leaves. I’m planning on mulching-”

“ **You seemed to be enjoying yourself.** **I did not understand that you needed me to stop.** ”

Brie stopped talking for a moment and tried to process that. “I don’t know what I need.  You scare me. You did before, but now-” she wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence, so she just trailed off. Darkness waited patiently for long enough to make her uncomfortable. “That was a much longer recovery period than I have ever needed and I felt terribly alone.”

“ **I respected your request that I not enter your cottage.** **If you had stayed here I could have helped.** ”

Brie snorted, “Yeah, I’m not sure your offer to kiss it better would have helped.”

There was another pause, “ **I could have healed you enough that it wasn’t bothersome.** ”

“Really? Is that a thing?”

Darkness stood up. Brie scrambled out of her chair and away from him. She had forgotten how tall he was. “ **There are binding ropes in the desk over there.** **Get them and meet me by the tree.** ” Then he picked up a large wooden box with ornate iron work on the outside and left.

She wasn’t sure what binding ropes were but this felt like extra heavy candle wick. It was braided not twisted. It was black with strands of sliver running through it.  When she got out side, she found him kneeling, his chest pressed against the tree trunk.  

He wrapped his arms around the trunk and said, “ **After you bind me here, you may play with anything in the box until you feel satisfied.** ”

Brie frowned and opened the box. There were knives and pliers and a few different kinds on whips, including one that looked like it had pieces of barbwire imbedded. “What is all of this?”

“ **I have angered you.** **Punish me until you no longer feel angry and we can put this behind us.** ”

“What? No! That’s just… NO!”

“ **You will do me no lasting harm.** **You will feel better afterwards.** **Humans always do.** ”

Brie slammed the lid of the box shut and sat on it. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!” Then it hit her. He was covered in scars. “Why do you think this is ok?”

He turned and gave her a quizzical look. 

“You need therapy, dude. This isn’t a healthy way to deal with conflict. You hurt me, I hurt you. An eye for an eye just leaves the world blind.”

“ **I was not trying to hurt you.** **I was most careful not to.** **I misjudged.** **I regret that.** ”

Brie shook her head, cleared her throat and tried again, “I will need to put down mulch and convert the tractor to winter set up-”

“ **I don’t care about the tractor!** ” The roar was loud enough to startle the birds from the trees. Then in a much calmer voice he said, “ **I want you to come and talk with me again.** **How do I arrange that?** ”

Brie raised an eyebrow, “Just talk?”

“ **I desire companionship.** **I can handle any other needs on my own.** ”

It took a moment for that to sink in.

“Then what is with the orchid bedroom?”

“ **I want you to have a safe room in the house.** **Once you accept it, I will no more enter there than I do your cottage.** ”

Brie considered that. “You give me nightmares so I can’t sleep. You are still very much in that cottage.”

He looked like he was going to argue that for a moment. Then he didn’t. “ **I have not since you returned.** ”

“That’s true.”

“ **You will be more comfortable…** **That is to say, the house will be better equipped to handle the winter weather than the cottage as it is not easy to heat.** ”

“I’ll think about it.”  She looked at the tree for a moment. “Just companionship?”

Those odd yellow eyes were watching her intently. “ **I desire a relationship with you and I am content to allow you to define it.** ”

“Interesting.” It sounded skeptical even to her own ears. “So explain why for the week after the storm, ever night I dreamed of you edging me until I woke in physical pain?”

Now he turned back to the tree and pressed his forehead against the bark. He seemed to fold in on himself as he shrank back to Marbus Herne. “ **I had hoped to goad you into coming to me for comfort.** **I will not do that again**.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“ **You shouldn’t.** **But you can leave and I can not.** ”

Brie thought of the stag asking if she could care for him. Yeah. That was easy for her. The hard part was going to be not letting him hurt her. In a way, Darkness was right, part of her did want to hurt him. Here he was, naked and human, kneeling before the tree, vulnerable to her.

“Can I touch you?”

“ **You may do to me as you wish.** ”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“ **You can touch me, Brie.** ”

She walked toward him, staying in his blind spot. Or what would be his blind spot, if he were human. She had no idea how that worked on demons. He flinched when she gently pressed her finger tips to the skin between his shoulder blades. She thought about revenge. About crushing his balls in her hand. They were right there on display. She considered rubbing one out of his cock, then continuing past the point of over stimulation all they was to the point where he was as raw as she had felt. Then coming back and doing it again every day for a week to make up for him haunting her dreams.

“ **If that is what you desire, I will submit.** ”

Brie snatched back her hand and staggered away from him.

Now he turned to her, “ **It is alright.** **I deserve it.** **Just please don’t leave me alone again.** ”

“You need more people to talk to than just me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note - it looks like pixieungerwrites.tumblr is gone. This really cuts into my ability to promote my work. So if you like this, please consider recommending it to a friend.
> 
> Thanks!


	24. Bonding

* Please Drink Responsibly 

Mitchell was accepting delivery for the cedar panelling Mr Lynn had insisted they install in every closet.  He thought it was a bit ridiculous.  With the new windows and insulation, the moths shouldn’t get in to start with.  But the customer was always right.  He looked up from his paperwork and startled to find Mr Herne suddenly there.  He hadn’t heard footsteps or anything.

“Gah! Wah… What can I do for you Mr Herne?”

“ **Brie says I need to talk to more people.** ”

“O… kay….”

“ **So I am going to talk to you.** ”

“Um… what do we need to talk about? Are you unhappy with my work?”

“ **I want to talk about Brie.** ”

“NO!  We are not going to talk about how you are creepily stalking your gardener!” was what Mitchell thought.  What he said was, “I’m not sure I’m comfortable talking about Brie behind her back.”

Mr Herne made a noise that could have been a “hmmm,” but sound more like a growl.  Then he promptly ignored Mitchell’s last statement.  “ **She was cooking dinner for me but she stopped after the ice storm.** ”

Mitchell considered this.  “Well, she did get really sick.  Maybe she isn’t feeling up to-”

“ **I think it was because we had sex.** ”

Mitchell felt his eyes bug out.  “Wha?” When he recovered a little he added, “I am really not the right person to talk to about this.”

“ **Lynn just called me an idiot.** ”

“Umm.”

“ **I believe she was displeased by how it went.  How do you deal with their disappointment when you seduce a woman?** ”

“Uhhh… I need to go set up that…” Mitchell didn’t even know what to say, so he just ran for it.

Darkness called after him, “ **Surely you must have more experience with that than I do.** ”

\----

Mitchell was packing up for the day when Mr Herne cornered him again.

“ **I have craft beer and food is being delivered.  I require your help.** ”

Mitch rolled his eyes, “Dude, if you are asking for help, ASK don’t demand it or expect it.  It’s not just women that get pissed off by the entitlement.”

Marbus Herne considered this.  “ **I understand.  Will you stay for dinner?** ”

“Yeah, sure.  Dinner.  But I am not going to help you stalk Brie.  She deserves better than that.”

To his surprise, Marbus nodded in agreement to that, “ **She does deserve better.  I want to do better.  Be better.** ”

Mitchell hesitantly nodded at that.

\----

Mitchell was most of the way through second the case of beer.  Darkness had helped, but alcohol had no effect on him.  He was sure of it.

“- **then she brought me pashta with tomato and meat sauce.  It was soooo good!  Beshed thing I tasted in … in forever**!”  He blinked.  Something in that sentence didn’t sound right.

Mitchell snorted, “You promised me food man, we need food.”

Marbus frowned.  “ **Yeah… I wash going to Italy fer pizza**.”

Mitchell shook his head, “Too long.  I’ll make spaghetti an… an… sauce.”

\-----

Brie wasn’t entirely convinced she was doing the right thing.  Something warty and toad like had come banging on her door begging her to come to the house.  Now she was chasing it down the path that connected her cottage to the main property.

They were both running.

There was smoke pouring out of the kitchen window when she got there.  She rushed through the door, “Marbus?  Where are  you?  What’s going on?”

A very drunk Mitchell waved at her from where he was trying to fan the smoke out the window, “Hi Brie!  We were baking spaghetti and forgot it under the oven.”

Brie frowned and looked over at the still smouldering casserole in the oven and said, “You mean under the broiler?”

“Yeah.  That.”

She looked around.  Marbus was staring at her.  He was also swaying slightly.  “How much have you had to drink?”

“ **Less than two boxes** ,” Marbus mumbled.

Brie frown, “So… six each?”

Mitchell shook his head.  He kept shaking it longer than he should have then stumbled to the side a little.  “Two boxes of twelve.”

“Let me guess: you didn’t eat before you started, then decided to make spaghetti in the oven when you were well in.” She couldn’t keep the exasperation out of her voice.

“He said he was bring-ging food!” Mitchell protested.

They both turned to Marbus, who was still watching Brie intently.

He coughed, breathing out a puff of smoke.

Brie blinked.  Then she pushed past them and opened all the other windows in the kitchen letting the cross breeze take care of the fumes.  She found oven mitts and carried the “spaghetti” out to the front porch.  It didn’t look like they had even boiled it first.  Dry pasta was in the bottom of the tray with a jar of tomato sauce poured over top.  It had been garnished with shredded cheese which was what had actually caught fire in the oven.

When she came back to the kitchen the guys were looking in the large walk in fridge.  “Go to the dining room and wait!” she ordered, plucking a bottle from Marbus’s hand and shooing them out of the kitchen.

She knew from experience the fridge seemed to magically have whatever you needed in it.  She closed the door, thought hard about sports drinks and opened it to find a couple of litre bottles of the stuff waiting for her.  She also found bread and peanut butter.  She grabbed a knife out of the drawer and carried everything awkwardly to the dining room.

Setting her armful down on the table she slid a bottle to each of them, “Drink that.  There will be sandwiches in a moment.”

Mitchell was sitting at the table.  He cracked open his bottle like a pro and said, “Can I have mine with jam?”

Brie blinked, “You can have your second one with jam.”

He nodded amicably and took a swig of his drink.

Marbus was still standing next to the table watching her.

“Mr Hearn? You will feel better if you drink that.  We’ll get some food into you too, but you need to stay hydrated.”

He didn’t move. Brie passed the first sandwich to Mitchell then went over, pulled out a chair and gently pushed Marbus into it.  It crushed beneath his weight and for a moment his image flickered to Darkness.

“Whoa!” Mitchell gasped.

Marbus didn’t say anything, he just kept his eyes locked on Brie who pursed her lips nervously.

“Mitchell?  The orchard room… It’s all ready to go, right?”

“Sure thing Brie.”

“You are not safe to drive.  Can you stay there tonight?”

“Can I have another peanut butter sandwich?”

She handed him the butter knife, “Fill your boots.”  

Mitchell nodded happily and made himself two more sandwiches.  “I’ll just head up to the room then.  He needs a talking to.”

Brie nodded.  She opened the other bottle and handed it to Marbus.  It took a couple of tries for him to be able to hold it.  “Drink up.  We’ll get you taken care of once Mitchell is out of the way.”

“ **I want you to know-** ” Marbus started to say.  They both looked expectantly at him sitting on the floor.  “ **I want you to know that I don’t…** ” They waited a minute longer. 

Then Mitchell gave up, picked up his stack of sandwiches in one hand, his bottle  in the other and staggered out of the room.  

“ **I want you to know that I love you Brie.** ”

She snorted and pulled him up, steering him towards one of the oversized chairs, “It doesn’t count if you say it when you’re drunk, doofus.”

“ **Is still true though.** ”

“Eat your sandwich, Darkness.”

\-----

Marbus Hearn, Lord of Darkness woke in his bed.  He was surprised that he was no longer human shaped and he didn’t remember changing.  He also didn’t usually sleep.  He certainly didn’t remember laying down.

Then he did.

He sat bolt upright and was nearly sick as the oh god of hangovers found him.

“ **Ugh**.”

Brie snorted.  He looked over, she was laying in bed next to him.

“ **How did you get me into bed?** ”

Now she flat out laughed, but she was kind enough to do it quietly.  “You’re kidding right?  Drunken you would follow me anywhere.  Especially bed.”

He turned away and rubbed the base of his horns.  “ **Did I harm you?** ”

“No.”

He remembered begging her to fuck him.  “ **Did …** ” he didn’t even know how to ask what he needed to know.  He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.  He wasn’t crusty and his balls were still achingly full.

He didn’t think he had ever been this happy to have not had sex.  He had nearly broken her - maybe did break her - when he was in control.  It made him sick to think how much damage he could do if he wasn’t paying attention.

And he knew exactly how much damage he could do.  In the dark times, when he had been given offerings, he didn’t care about damaging those offerings.  The ones who hadn’t been killed that night generally died from their injuries shortly after.  The image of waking up to find Brie with a broken pelvis and dislocated hip joints bleeding out next to him was suddenly at the very front of his mind.

“ **You shouldn’t have come.  I could have injured you.** ”

“You could have burned down the house.  Maybe you would have survived but Mitchell wouldn’t have.”

“ **Do you care for him?** ”

“Mitchell?  Sure!  He’s a nice guy.”

“ **Ah.** ”

“But I wouldn’t want to date him.  He’s a bit too dude bro for me.”

Darkness wasn’t entirely certain he knew what that meant, but he could guess.  “ **I apologize for my behaviour last night.** ”

Brie nodded, “It was interesting.  I certainly gained some insight into how you think.”


	25. Spooning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With apologies, I'm having problems with the pictures

They had eventually settled on the idea of making dinners together.  Brie still did the menu planning. Sometimes she would buy the groceries.  Sometimes she would give the list to Marbus and the ingredients would just appear.  That was handy for hard to find items, like the special french lentils she needed for that soup the one time.  

The only problem with cooking with Darkness was that he had no skills.  At all. Even simple things like peeling a carrot, she had to teach him how to use the peeler.  She had thought he was joking at first, when he took the birds beak knife and started to carefully peel the carrots by hand.  He was surprisingly good at it, but had no idea how to use the peeler. He had been completely floored by how much faster it was.

Tonight, they were making bacon cheeseburger meatloaf.  It was one of her favourites, but Marbus kept nibbling on the cheese.  She hadn’t brought that much extra. The third time she caught him with his neatly manicured, human looking hand in the cheese bowl, some visceral part of her brain took over and she whacked the back of it with her wooden spoon she was stirring the chopped bacon with. “No!  Bad boy!”

Then she froze, completely embarrassed.  She gritted her teeth and looked up at him to apologize.  He was also frozen, but his eyes were yellow and his pupils were blown.  She swallowed and changed her tactic. “You can’t keep stealing my cheese.  I don’t have enough for you to be snacking on it. Get an apple out of the fruit bowl if you are that hungry.”

He was still watching her, then he nodded, “ **Yes, Ms Moreno**.”  He went and got an apple.  

It was a plain, boring honey crisp apple, it should not have been possible for him to eat it in a provocative way.  Nonetheless, he was. Or Brie was just thirsty. “Good. Um… well done.” 

He nodded, still watching her intently.

She looked him up and down, trying to figure out what he was doing.  She gasped, “Are you pointing at me?” she demanded, gesturing with the spoon.

Marbus looked a little embarrassed, but the tent he was pitching stood up a little straighter.

“You can stop that right now.”

Marbus coughed, “ **I’m not sure I can**.”

Brie narrowed her eyes, “Do I need to go?”

The little whine he made was completely unexpected, “ **No, please, Ms Moreno** ,” he mumbled, adjusting his pants.

“Go wash your hands, you need them to be clean if you are handling food.”  She wasn’t even sure why she said that. He wasn’t handling food, she was. She was curious to see if he would.

He did.

Huh.

OK.  Time to see how far she could push that.  “You aren’t allowed to touch yourself while we are cooking.  Understand?”

He didn’t actually say anything, but a low growl came out of him.  Now she turned and faced him, crossing her arms, spoon still in hand, she tapped her foot and stared him down.  Pointing aggressively with the spoon, she repeated, “Do you understand me? This is where you say, ‘Yes Ms Moreno’.”

His eyes glowing faintly yellow, Marbus smirked, “ **Yes, Ms Moreno**.”

Brie blushed.  “Good,” she replied a little weakly.  She went back to stirring the rapidly browning bacon on the stove.  As she was turning off the burner, she felt his hands on her hips as he leaned into nuzzle her neck.  She elbowed him away from her, “Go peel the potatoes.” He didn’t move. “With the peeler, like I showed you.”

“ **We could always take a break and find something else to do for a while** ,” he suggested.

Brie shook her head.  “You aren’t careful. We are making supper, let’s stick with that..”

“ **I could be careful** ,” he suggested.

Now she turned and looked at him.  “I could go make this at my place, if you aren’t going to help.”  She didn’t even pretend to be angry this time. “Be a good boy and go get the potatoes ready to boil.”

There was something in his eyes when she said the phrase ‘good boy’ that she wasn’t sure what to do with. She thought about that as she finished assembling dinner and putting it in the oven.  With her back to him, she filled a pot with water and asked, “Do you like this game?”

“ **Yes, Ms Moreno, I do**.”

Just like that.  He didn’t pretend he didn’t know what she was talking out.  He didn’t duck the question. Just a straight up yes, in that deep, rumbling voice of his.

“You like being a good boy for me, don’t you?”

“ **Yes** ,” it came out with a smirk.

She turned to where he was watching her.  “How are those potatoes coming?”

He hesitated,  “ **Almost done, Ms Moreno**.”

As Marbus went back work, she noticed there was something funny about how he was standing.  He was working at the corner of the table. The side was between his legs, leaving the edge at the perfect height for him to rub against.  She smirked, “When I said you weren’t allowed to touch yourself while we were cooking, did I give you the impression that you could hump the table instead?”

His whole face and neck flushed red.  He shook his head, “ **No, Ms Moreno.** ”

Brie considered this.  “Are you hard for me, Marbus?”

“ **Yes, Ms Moreno.** ”

“Well, if you are hard for me, then that is my dick.  Don’t go touching it when it’s mine.”

He closed his eyes and straight up whined.  His body sagged and he was forced to set down the knife.  Brie felt awkward but was determined not to show it. She pushed him aside, and quickly finished chopping then took the cutting board to the stove to add the potatoes to the water.  She set a timer before turning to him.

“We have twenty minutes until the potatoes are ready to mash.  I will have to think of something for us to do.”

He was just standing there, watching her intently, trembling slightly.

“Come here.”  That was all she said.  That he dropped to his knees and crawled to her was entirely his doing.  She smiled down at him and ran her hand through his hair as he stared up at her.  She wasn’t expecting him to lean in, take the edge of her pants in his mouth and and pull back undoing her button.  Fighting not to laugh, she raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you getting ideas on me?”

He didn’t say anything, but he did lean in and take the tab from her zipper in his teeth.

Now she did laugh, “Well, if you are going to do that, you can use your hands.”

Marbus put his hands on her hips and leaned in to lick the skin just above her panties.  His palms on her hips eased around to rub her ass before he tucked his fingers into the waistband of her jeans and slid them down her legs, still kissing and licking her exposed skin.  Brie gave him a gentle push so that he rocked back onto his heels. She stepped out of her shoes followed by her pants and panties a moment later. She watched as he ran his palm over his dick.

Well, here goes nothing she thought.  She pushed his hand aside with her foot and ran her toes over the bulge in his pants.  “Don’t go touching what is mine.” He looked up at her and she pressed her foot down just enough to make him squirm.  Then she hooked her knee over his shoulder. “I will let you make it up to me. This time.”

He didn’t say a word as he held eye contact and leaned in to lick her lips, his tongue grazing her clit.  She was surprised at how turned on she was by this. If someone had asked her this morning if stomping a guys dick was sexy she would have been appalled.

This was totally sexy.

Knowing that inside the man kneeling before her was a nine foot tall demon with horns and he was just letting her do this was a power trip she never thought she would take.  The way he was running his tongue over her folds, lapping at the slick he found there was really nice too.  

He kept his hands on her hips, which was helping Brie keep her balance.   Marbus dipped his tongue into her that licked up to her clit with a slurp then a suck.  Brie moaned. He stopped for a moment and Brie ended up chasing his mouth, her hips lurching forward to grind against his chin for a moment before she caught herself and stopped.  Brie opened eyes she didn’t remember closing and found him still looking up at her. With his hands firmly on her ass, he pulled her forward so that she was grinding against his mouth.  As she lost her balance a little, Marbus lay back, pulling her with him. It wasn’t graceful, but she landed heavily on his chest with him on his back on the floor.

“ **I can provide handles if required** ,” he teased

Brie frowned as she adjusted her knees, then leaned forward and pressed her pussy firmly against his mouth.  “If we are going to keep playing, I’m not done yet.”

She couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like he apologized.  Whatever he said the vibrations felt great and she took a moment to grind hard against him, “Be a dear and lick that for me.”

Marbus grinned as he took hold of her thighs and pulled her tight against him, lapping exactly where she needed him.  She was squirming involuntarily now, her hips bucking at his chin. He opened his mouth wide for a moment and scraped his teeth over her before licking and sucking at the now even more sensitive flesh.

Brie’s eyes were closed, her head thrown back, every motion she was making was now frantic. She was making a soft whining sound but was helpless to stop it.

Suddenly, the feeling of his tongue changed, it became long and prehensile and dove into her.  Her eyes snapped open as she looked down to see him watching up at her. His teeth grazed her clit as his now forked tongue swirled inside of her.  Brie gasped and tipped forward as she came on his face.

She crouched there panting, her palms pressed to the cool tile on the floor.  That was good, it was helping her feel grounded. The feel of his breath between her legs was not helping her come down at all.  

Any temptation for a round two was ruined by the sound of the potatoes boiling over.

“Shit!” she gasped as she struggled unsteadily to her feet and ran to turn off the gas on the stove.  She was holding on to the handle of the oven, her body still racked with aftershocks as Marbus came up behind her and nudged her ass with his cock.

“Stop that!” she snapped.  “Look at this mess! Now I have to clean up the….” her voice trailed off as something occurred to her.  She turned, coiled her arms around his neck, hauling him closer to kiss his lips, tasting herself on his mouth.  “Such a good boy taking care of me! Now I need you to take care of this too.”

Marbus was still human looking.  Mostly human looking, except his smile had fangs. And the long black forked tongue that came out to lick his lips all the way down to his chin made his smile look particularly diabolical.


	26. bonus smut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (In which I badly write a BDSM scene. You may not want to read this.)

Brie considered the monster kneeling before her.  The cock that had eased its way out of his sheath was large, mottled red and grey, it had a flared end and was big enough that her whole body took one look at it a winced.  She was all too familiar with what it would feel like having that pushed inside of her.  Now that it was there, she wanted to do something with it.

Once again, she reached out and touched him with a single finger.  she touched the slit at the top ran her finger to the edge of his flare then down the side of the silky, exposed flesh that became tougher towards the base.  There was a brief dip where the shaft met the sheath then through the coarse hair to a set of balls that she cupped and weighed thoughtfully in her hand.

The tip was leaking a little now.  She still hadn’t decided what she wanted to do.

“Are there any imps in the room?”  Darkness opened his mouth to speak and she quickly pushed her fingers into it.  She tried again as he jerked in surprised then started to suck.  “Hello?  Imps?   He said you were taking care of the orchids. Is there anyone here who could help me out for a few moments?”

A small grey and white mouse scurried out of the corner, stood up on his haunches and made a sort of bobbing curtsy.

Brie fought down the revulsion wondering where it was leaving piles of droppings.

“I am going to leave.  Can you find a place where you can hide and watch him?” 

The mouse nodded.

“If he moves or touches himself, will you tell me when I get back?”

Nod.

Brie pulled now wet fingers from Darkness’s mouth and wiped them on his chest.  “Stay!”  

She didn’t rush as she sauntered out of the  room, down the stairs and out the door.  There were deer grazing on the lawn.   She nodded to them as she walked back towards her cottage.  It took her a few moments to get the lube out of her drawer.  She had to hunt a little harder to find the box of condoms.  After a moment of thought she brought her vibe with her.  Everything went into a cloth shopping back, then she made her way back to the house.

Darkness was still as she left him, but there was precum running down the length now.  The slit was redder.  Brie narrowed her eyes. “Imp?  Did he move?”

A tiny, squeaky voice called from the corned, “No he didn’t, Lady Brie.”

She was surprised that it called her lady, but she nodded in acknowledgement.

“Good boy,” she purred  before dipping her finger in the pool at his slit and running it around the rim.

Darkness groaned as his cock jumped and twitched at the sensation.  Brie struggled a bit to get the condom on.  “I don’t like jizz.  If you cum on me I will pull your tail and not let you cum again until I forget how gross you are.  Do you understand?”

Darkness swallowed.  He nodded and said, “ **Yes, Lady Brie**.”

“Good boy, go sit on the bed.”   She stripped and got the bottle of lube.  “Lay down.”  

It used a lot of lube to coat every inch of his cock.  She wasn’t planning on letting him get inside of her, but she liked being prepared.  No, the idea that she couldn’t get out of her head was what would the ridge around the head of his cock feel like if she ground her clit against it?  It wasn’t perfectly smooth, there were slight bumps in a regular pattern around the ridge.  A lovely texture.  She wrapped her hand around his cock and ran her thumbs over those bumps.  Then she straddled his body and started to grind against that ridge.

That was nice.

His hands came up to touch her hips. “No.”  It wasn’t loud, but it made him stop.  From there she mostly ignored him as she concentrated on rubbing one out on the head of his dick.  About the time her legs were shaking, she rolled off of him.  “That was nice.  I’m going to sleep now.  You can go to your room now.”

He didn’t move.

“What?” Brie asked while she yawned.

“ **May I touch your dick now, Lady Brie?** ”

It took her a moment to understand what he meant.  Then she took another moment to think about it.  She hadn’t considered that he wouldn’t.  “You were very good today.  Pass me that bag.”

He did.

“I still don’t want you touching my things,” she pulled out her vibrator.  “This wasn’t part of the plan, but let’s see what we can do.”  He was watching her intently.  “I remember reading that most men are needlessly aggressive when they masturbate.”  She turned on her vibe and pressed it to the underside of his cock. His body jerked as she dragged it up his length stopping just below the flare of the head. “How often do you pleasure yourself, Marbus?”

He whined then gasped out, “ **Many times a day, Lady Brie**.”

That gave her some pause. “Really? How often is many?”

His body was still but his hands where shaking and his cock was bobbing under the gentle pressure of the vibe.   “ **Every four or five hours.** ”

Brie blinked and pulled away at that.  Darkness moaned and spasmed, his body trying to chase the sensation.  “How many of those are for me?”

“ **Nearly all of them!  Please!** ”

She moved to put the vibe back, then stopped.  Darkness groaned.  “Who gets the other ones?”

“ **The workmen are half naked all the time, Lady Brie.** ”

Brie smirked and turn up the setting before putting the vibe back.  “Tell me about that.”

Darkness jumped again as soon as the vibe touched him.  Brie felt a surge of power that the nine foot tall demon was writhing under her control.

“ **They are young and strong and they are working for me.  Building for me.  Creating for me.** ”

It wasn’t what she was expecting, but it was consistent with what the book had said.

“ **Please! Can I cum?** ”

That startled her out of whatever quiet reverie she had been in.  “What?”

“ **Please!  Lady Brie!  Let me cum!** ”

It was funny, but her immediate instinct was to say no.  She switched off the vibe and stepped back.  Darkness absolutely sobbed.  

“You aren’t allow to touch that dick.  It is MINE.  Can you cum without touching my things?”

He squeezed his eye tight shut and nodded.

“Alright then, cum.”

He clawed down his chest, then squeezed his balls, pushed a finger into his ass, and filled the condom.

It was a lot of cum.

“Go clean up.  I’m going to bed.”

Darkness was laying there shaking.  “ **Yes, Lady Brie.  Thank you, Lady Brie!** ”

Yeah.  She could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter next. If some one could poke at me next Friday, I have new content for you, life is just weird and I have to post for paid readers first. There will always be free stuff here, the comments are too seductive for me not to.


	27. Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BDSM attempt, not terribly explicit

It took them a few weeks, but Brie and Marbus settled into a routine.  Between Brie and YouTube, Marbus had learned to cook, which meant that Brie got breakfast in bed.  If it was good, Marbus got permission to masturbate. Once.

 

He was fully prepared to be Brie’s slave, 24/7.  Brie wasn’t always in the mood to play. Nonetheless, he was fond of the idea of her owning his dick and he would not touch it without her permission.  Not unless he sensed she was in the right mood, in which case, he would sometimes let her catch him touching himself.

 

As the garden began to die off  for the season, Brie had less work to do outside.  Clearing snow and stocking the bird feeders weren’t every day jobs.  Marbus set her up an Amazon account and she set about updating the library.  On the weekends, when the work men weren’t around, they would turn the temperature up in her room and she would spend the day in whatever lingerie she had picked out. 

 

Marbus learned how to give a pedicure and ordered enough supplies that they had a room set up for that.

 

Brie was getting good about just rolling with it.  She felt pampered and adored. The amount of maintenance Marbus needed to keep him happy was minimum.

 

Mostly, she just needed to let him eat her out as dessert after supper and scream or moan his name as he did so.  She found that his horns were perfectly placed for her feet while he did that. Or put up with him turning up at odd hours of the day and night with his balls heavy, his cock leaking and listening to him beg for relief.  They were quickly amassing a large collection of toys. 

 

Brie was learning words like refractory period.   One particularly interesting Saturday suggested that in his form as Darkness he didn’t have one.  He splashed cum on her. She told him he wasn't allow to stop rubbing his cock until she said, expecting him to beg her to let him stop in a few minutes. Instead he just kept cumming every few minutes for close to an hour. Eventually she had him stop when dehydration started to set it.  After that the house plans were changed to add a wet room and Marbus wasn’t allowed to touch himself for two days.

 

He accidentally came in his pants watching Brie sleep the second night. 

 

After that, he had explained the other meaning of maintenance to her.  The idea that a Dom would have a regularly scheduled punishment to remind the sub who was in charge.  Brie had rolled her eyes and snarked about buying a paddle.

 

He had hesitantly shown her the basement.  She had looked around at his collection and moved back into her cottage for a week as they negotiated how much of it he got to keep.

 

He and the goblins had hastily made most of it into firewood.  

 

She had let him keep the one set of stocks that was built to accommodate his demonic form.

 

He had learned that she had a hard limit about anything that would leave a lasting  mark.

 

He had also learned that even if he didn’t touch himself, his body would ejaculate every forty-three hours whether he wanted to or not.  If he wasn’t touching himself, it wasn’t pleasant when it happened. He wasn’t sure what he thought of that, but he didn’t bring it to Lady Brie’s attention.

 

By the time she moved back into the house he was desperate for release.

 

She had been so pleased at how much he had cleaned up that her praise poured into him.  It was better than sex. It was also the first time she tied him to a chair and rode his dick.  The sex was nice, her babbling about how good he was, holding still for her was even better. He got so much pleasure from that alone.  When she finally let him actually spill his body arched so hard the binding ropes cut into his skin.

 

He cherished the marks but it was difficult to explain that to Brie so that she would believe him.

 

\------

 

She was unpacking the grocery delivery and had to ask, “Why did you order so much ginger?”

 

Marbus froze.  His eyes flashed yellow.  “ **It can be useful, Lady Brie.** ”

 

“Yeah, I get that.  I like asian food as much as the next person, but why do we need three pounds of the stuff?”

 

Marbus had to consider how to answer that.

 

Brie frowned and left the room.  She was getting better at reading him to know when she had to figure out what he was asking for.  The internet was helpful there.

 

This one she needed time to process.  Alternating between being bitchy and telling him he was good was one thing.  This was actively working to cause him pain. It was an odd trade. She hurt him, he cared for her.  Except he seemed to see it as her caring for him.

 

She had read a fair bit about this by now.  The idea that the submissive was in control was well set in.

 

Supper was lentil soup and a discussion of what they were each getting out of it.

 

“This isn’t about you taking care of me any more.  It’s about me taking care of you. Me doing what you want.” Brie said softly as she stirred her soup.

 

“ **What do you want, Lady Brie?** ”

 

She needed to think about that.

 

“Do you care for me aside from as someone who worships you?  Someone who feeds you?”

 

“ **Of course!  I take care of you!** ”

 

“Yeah, but that is part of this game you are playing.  It isn’t real.”

 

The negotiation continued.  Brie could not be solely responsible for Marbus’s dick.  She would play with him when she wanted. She would sometimes take ownership of him, but when she wasn’t playing, he had to take care of himself.  Four days a week, they would talk about the house, make plans and even if Marbus did most of the cooking, they were equals. Two days a week, Darkness would call her Lady Brie and spend time worshipping her body.  Those days, she owned his dick. 

 

One day a week, she would find ways to stress his body while telling  him how good he was. Everytime she did the centuries of scars on his body got a little better.

 

Today she had him in full Darkness form, his tail lashing as he writhed.  There was a four inch chunk of peeled ginger in his ass. He was begging her to claim him.  To mark him. To own him. She picked up the switch she had harvested from the forest earlier and added some cross hatching to his ass.

 

“You want my mark?” she asked.

 

“ **Please!  Lady Brie!  Mark me as yours!** ”

 

\-----

 

Elzevir wasn’t exactly a big city.  It was big enough. It had all the services most people would need.  Including a couple of tattoo parlours. The one owned by Lucille French wasn’t the most popular.  It was small. Lucille was in her late fifties and a not many people wanted to get a tattoo from a woman who looked like their mom.  She was also nearly retired, so her hours were by appointment only.

 

If you could find her art, it was easily the best available for miles.

 

Her current piece was a morning glory flower with the vine curling into the woman’s signature.

 

It was a odd tattoo for a man.

 

It was also not exactly usual to be tattooing an ass that still had the traces of a paddling healing up.  Lucille chuckled. She was too old to be surprised anymore. Still she had to ask that man with scars on his face like he had been clawed open at some point, “Are you a hundred percent sure you want this son?  It’s not so easy to remove if she changes her mind about you.”

 

In a curiously deep voice he said, “ **Well, then, I will just have to make sure she doesn’t change her mind.** ”

 

Lucille laughed again, “That is the kind of attitude I like to see.”

 

Turned out it was the kind of attitude Brie liked too.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I added a pseud - Pixie Unger. So if you want more of my stuff, google me (sorry, I can't add links without violating the TOS) and/or check out my other profile and follow me there. I'm planning on converting the Pixel Runner name to mainstream fan fiction and the Pixie Unger pseudo to the more general monster stories. For original work where the fandom is werewolves or orcs but not one specific media source.


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